A CONGRESSMAN has filed a bill that seeks to build post-harvest facilities to lower production losses and increase farmers’ revenue.
Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee filed House Bill 358, which orders the Public Works department in consultation with the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform departments and farmer cooperatives to build warehouses and rice mills in every rice-producing municipality.
“There is a need to provide warehouses, rice mills and transport facilities, including crucial equipment such as flatbed dryers and threshers to increase production,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “The lack of equipment is a recurring problem.”
“The presence of these facilities should also provide a safety net for farmers during periods of oversupply when drying facilities are overutilized and private traders are not willing to accept wet paddy and/or offer very low buying prices,” he added. — Kyanna Angela Bulan