SELF-RELIANCE IN FARM MACHINES

 

SELF-RELIANCE IN FARM MACHINES

Mr. Ramon Uy, Sr. of Bacolod City believes that we Filipinos could become self-reliant in making and maintaining our own farm machineries and equipment, and I agree with him. He owns a social enterprise that doubles as a foundry and as a manufacturer of these machineries and equipment. What that means is that he is not just talking about making this goal happen, he is already making it happen in real life.

As far as many of us would probably think, the only way to level up from using carabaos in the field is to buy the farm tractors that are almost always imported and are too expensive. That is no longer true now, because Mr. Uy has already started making his own farm equipment, starting with small and simple designs, but also starting to move up to bigger and more complex designs.

On the practical side, he is already making the replacement parts for the imported machines that are difficult to source locally and are too expensive to buy. What usually happens is that the machine owners would just junk these assets if they could not source the parts. Aside from making these parts in his own foundry, he helps the farmers in putting up their own mini-foundries through his “pandayan” project. Aside from making replacement parts, the “pandayan” also makes other products that the farmers could sell to make extra money, such as small tools and kitchen knives. In a manner of speaking, Mr. Uy has started a mini-industrial revolution. IKE SENERES/03-10-2024

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