Farmers benefit from drying facility in Alcala
COJUANGCO UPDATES
THANKS to another good foresight of former Fifth District Rep. Mark Cojuangco over the judicious use of tobacco excise tax for the construction and operation of a modern corn drying facility located in Barangay Bersamin, Alcala town.
Corn farmers in Alcala and nearby towns can now avail themselves of the services of a modern drying facility to ease their burdens of drying their produce on road pavements and boost their income by having quality production sold at higher price.
Cojuangco, in a dialogue and demonstration of the drying facility Thursday with local officials led by Mayor Pao Mencias and farmers, said the project was built without any loan and is 100 percent owned by Alcala.
Former Pangasinan Fifth District Rep. Mark Cojuangco with town officials and farmers in Alcala town during a demonstration for the operation of a modern corn dryer facility which he built from tobacco excise tax.
“For a cheap price of 65 centavos per kilo of corn, you can dry your produce here,” he told the farmers.
This is the second drying facility built by Cojuangco when he was congressman of the Fifth District sourced from excise tax proceeds, the first being located in Villasis town.
He said he envisioned this kind of project as an answer to farmers’ woes of drying their harvests.
The Alcala corn drying facility is capable of processing a capacity of 400 tons every day.
If farmers do not have money to pay for the services of the facility, Cojuangco said they could use part of their harvested corn as payment.
The use of the facility is timely to address worries during rainy season but it could also be tapped during summer. Farmers can also use the warehouse to store their produce especially when prices are not encouraging yet and wait for the right time until prices improve so they could earn more.
“We set aside politics here. We did not just give fertilizer because here, you can really see where your money was spent wisely because I strongly believe this project would greatly benefit you all,” Cojuangco told the farmers.
The structure, the facility and machines cost around P80-million, and if cost of the sprawling lot where it was built and the road right of way were included, it could reach almost P100-million.
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