November 9, 2010

Philippines and South Korea to build corn processing centre

The Philippines and South Korea will establish a US$790,000 corn processing centre in Isabela province, Philippines, to improve the productivity of the corn farmers through the use of appropriate postproduction technologies and systems, officials said.

"We are very grateful to the Korean government for the help they extend to the Filipino farmers. This is the product of the cooperation and long time friendship between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea," Ricardo Cachuela, director of the Philippine Centre for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech), said.

He said the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) will finance the project which will attend to the needs for agricultural and rural development in the country by increasing agricultural output and enhancing local community capacity.

Raul Paz, PHilMech director for Extension Support, Education and Training Services, also said that Korean experts, PHilMech, and the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Unit will be supervising the operation of the corn processing centre for the first two years.

"The KREI is promoting rural development and they are looking for projects with great impact to the community," Paz said.

The records of discussion were signed by Cachuela and Dr. Yong-Taek Kim, director of the Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation of the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

The project which will be initiated by PhilMech includes the construction of a corn processing centre, two multi-purpose warehouses and a community centre.

The corn processing centre will use technologies such as corn sheller, corn dryer, storage, and bulk handling system. The multi-purpose warehouse will function as machinery shed and grain storage while the community centre will be used during the conduct of trainings and other related activities.

The Korean government will send experts to Philippines to oversee and offer necessary technical guidance to bring success to the project.

On the other hand, local officials and experts who have background knowledge on rural development, corn production and post-production will be joining the seminar-workshops to further their technical skills.