Faster, less costly and better in quality.
These are the major changes that the members of the Meme Agricultural Farmers Association (MAGFA) of Tago, Surigao del Sur feel in their farming operations now that they have some farm machinery.
The Association which was organized in 2017 has 111 members who are engaged in soybean, corn, rice, and vegetable farming. They have a total of 100 hectares planted with soybeans.
The association Chairman Annabelle Dela Fuente Loja said that soybean is really suitable in their area. “It thrives really well especially here in our Barangay, in Layug, that is why we have been planting this crop for a long time now,” she said.
In June this year, MAGFA availed of a multi-grain thresher and a sorting machine from the Department of Agriculture – Caraga. They also received soybean seeds last March. They were also able to avail of a water pump back in November 2019.
Loja narrates that their old practices in soybean farming were really time-consuming and laborious since they used to do manual threshing by stamping on the harvested soybeans. “Back then, threshing 40 sacks would take us a month, but with the multi-grain master thresher it only takes a few hours,” she said.
As for sorting, they used to do the “paligid” wherein they used plywood on which the beans were placed to roll. “With that kind of system, we were able to separate the beans from dirt and other materials but it was not really efficient in sorting the beans according to its sizes. Now with the sorter machine, in addition to removing dirt, the beans are also classified according to its sizes. Further, before with manual sorting, we can only finish 5 sacks a day, buy now with the sorting machine, we can finish 100 sacks each day, ” Loja added.
Joel Ochavillo, a member of MAGFA who is also into soybean production said that the machines made farming easier and more convenient. “Our labor cost, as well as the time we spend on our farming operations, have been lessened, thanks to the interventions we have availed from the DA –Caraga,” he said.
Loja said they used to spend P25,000 – P30,000 for labor but now they save to as much as P5,000.
Ochavillo said that the traders who would come to their place to buy their produce did not really offer them a competitive price before, ranging from less than P20 – P23 per kilo. Now though, with the assistance of the DA-Caraga’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division, they have tied up with a buyer from Davao City which offered them a price of P30 per kilo.
On the other hand, DA-Caraga Regional Executive Director Abel James I. Monteagudo, who personally witnessed the farming activities of the group in their area was happy to note that the machinery from the DA are working and helping the soybean farmers in improving their farming practices. “Even before, with their not so advanced way, this town already produces more than half of the country’s soybean supply. So we hope to provide them with more of the Department’s interventions to help them further boost their production and sustain it,” Monteagudo said.
