Agriculture

Opportunities lost ITALIAN WHEAT STRAWS BALED, PHILIPPINE RICE STRAWS BURNED By Manny Piñol

Every time I travel, I never fail to take notice of the simple agricultural practices that farmers in other countries do which could also be done in the Philippines.

On Friday, in a visit to the Center for Agricultural Engineering Research of Italy, I saw how wheat straws were gathered by a baler pulled by a tractor to be stored and used as animal feeds.

This was the same thing I saw in Argentina when I was there last year.

In the Philippines, we have been burning our rice straws and ignoring all other feed materials which are abundant in the countryside.

It is no wonder that in the Philippines where we have a population of 105-million, we only have 2.5-million cattle while Argentina, a country of 42-million, has 54-million cattle.

So much opportunities lost and resources wasted.

Not anymore and never again.

Change is here.

(Photos by Bong Piñol)

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