THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) said the domestic farm machinery industry needs to be built up to reduce dependence on imported equipment.

The Philippines “cannot rely solely on imported farm machines, and there is a need to develop the local farm machine industry to improve their manufacturing capabilities and quality of their products,” PHilMech Executive Director Dionisio G. Alvindia said in a statement.

On May 25, PHilMech began setting up the Agricultural Machinery Design and Prototyping Center (AMDPC) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA-Philippines), Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS), and the Korea Agricultural Machinery Cooperative (KAMICO).

The AMDPC took in investment of $3.6 million and will have state-of-the-art design and prototyping equipment and tools to develop farm machinery parts and components.

The center will also have shops to maintain farm machinery.

“The AMDPC is the major step in developing the country’s farm machine industry, and KAMICO is a perfect partner as they already possess expertise in the field,” Mr. Alvindia said.

“We should not rely solely on import, and we should empower our manufacturing industry,” he added.

The center will have the capacity to fabricate farm machinery parts in partnership with domestic manufacturers.

Such an operation “will upgrade our capabilities in local manufacturing that will create jobs in the countryside,” Mr. Alvindia said. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson