There was a time when farm machineries, equipment, rice and corn dryers, wheel barrows and even spade and hoes given out by government through the Department of Agriculture were considered as lemons and of poor quality which were just thrown away and discarded after a short period of time.
As a former Governor myself, I witnessed in the past how farmers derisively received the machineries and equipment and either sold these or left these unused.
The Agriculture Department is guilty of this practice. Spades break after one use, garden hoes bend after hitting the ground, rice dryers do not function and farm equipment and machineries are useless after a few months of use.
The culprit being this anomaly were corruption and the flawed policy of awarding the contract to supply machineries and equipment to the lowest bidder.
President Rody Duterte wants a change in this procurement policy.
In the many Cabinet meetings I attended, he openly questioned the “Lowest Bidder” policy saying that a low price does not guarantee quality service or outstanding equipment and machineries for the government.
Following this Presidential directive, I have instructed the Agriculture Regional Offices to make sure that we should only purchase and give to the farmers the best and quality equipment and machineries.
On Thursday and Friday, Sept. 7 to 10, the Central Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering Division (CAFED) of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries under the Duterte Administration will hold the first ever Equipment and Machineries Derby in the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City.
These equipment and machineries will be displayed to the farmers and fisher folks as they operate to determine which of these are the best.
The first “Makina Saka” Machineries and Equipment Derby is the first attempt of the Agriculture Department to ferret out fly-by-night equipment and machineries suppliers who bribe officials of the DA so they could sell their equipment.
With the awareness on the part of the farmers and the would-be recipients on the capability of the equipment to be displayed during the “Makina Saka” Farm Machineries and Equipment Derby, the Agriculture Department will now implement what is termed as the Users Preference Policy.
This means farmers and fisher folks now could tell the Department what type and brand of equipment they would like to have.
I hope that by implementing this policy, equipment, machineries and tools given out by the Department will now be viewed as “quality” and “outstanding” rather than inferior and throw-away type.
The “Makina Saka” Equipment and Machineries will.be displayed in the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City and is open to the public.
(Photos of the farm equipment downloaded from public websites)
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