LEGAZPI CITY – The local government unit (LGU) of Legazpi led the ‘International conference on solid waste management: A symposium on urban organic solid waste to compost fertilizer’.
Shiela Nas, city agriculturist, said that the symposium aimed to inform the public about Legazpi City as a recipient of the composting machine technologies sponsored by the Okada where the solid waste in the city will be converted into a compost fertilizer.
“We will be producing compost which will be given to the farmers for their farming so syempre kapag compost ang ginamit ng mga farmers natin, it will improve the soil and reactivate iyong mga beneficial microorganisms in the soil,” she said in an interview with Bicol.PH.
Legazpi Mayor Geraldine Rosal says the government has addressed disturbing hazards of solid wastes by having a project of putting up the composting facility in Brgy. Banquerohan which is considered the first in the Bicol region.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬
Dr. Justino Arboleda from Coco Technologies Corporation said that the Philippines has the lowest farm production here in Asia.
He also furthered that the country’s income is only Php 2,000 to Php 3,000 per hectare per month.
“Nag-average kita ki mga 2 hectares so it’s only Php 6,000 [but it’s] very much below the poverty line. Ang poverty line ta is around Php 13,000 so pano makakasurvive kaan ang farmer,” Arboleda said in an interview with Bicol.PH.
He mentioned that other countries produce thrice higher farm productivity compared to the Philippines as they are using organic fertilizer.
“We should also subsidize our farmer because they are producing our food so ‘yan ang very difficult satuya ang suporta sa farmer diitunon na maray,” Arboleda said.
“So, if [compost farming] can be done all over the Philippines, grabeng relief niyan sa mga farmers ta baratuhon na ang magiging farm….pati cost of food mababa, ang income kang farmer malangkaw.”
Meanwhile, Hiroshi Takai, Fukuyama Consultants, said they want to help the LGUs to produce faster compost fertilizer through Okada technologies as compared with manual operation.
“We want to join to operate, we [are] not only [going to] sell the machine but also we [will] join the operation of the city,” Takai said in an interview with Bicol.PH.
The composting facility is already operational in 2022 and in the process of selling and demonstration.
The said two-day event, March 22-23, was in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Okada Manufacturing Co. Ltd., and AGRI Party-list and was attended by different LGUs all over and outside the region at the Proxy by The Oriental, Legazpi City. | Nicole Frilles, God Frey Las Piñas
