Ground breaking held for agri cableway in Mountain Province
TO HELP FARMERS IN BRINGING THEIR PRODUCE FROM FARM TO TABLE; INCREASE THEIR PRODUCTIVITY
BAUKO, Mountain Province—the farmers of Bauko, Mountain Province, may soon have a modern cableway that will help them easily transport their agricultural products.
This intervention will prevent the rotting of agricultural produce as reported from some Cordillera areas some months back due to lack of efficient transport system.
The Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology, and the DOST Cordillera Administrative Region (DOST-CAR) Regional Office led the groundbreaking ceremony for a new cableway for agricultural transport system in Bauko to help address the infrastructure needs of the upland communities in the province, the DOST-PCIEERD said.
The project will improve the current crude cable system the upland farmers are using.
The project, “Cable Ways for Agricultural Resource Transport System,” will allow communities to transport their agricultural produce to the nearest trading center through a tramline. It was funded under the DOST Grantsin-aid Program amounting to P13 million.
The prototype of the project will be in Bauko. It will be equipped with a first-person-view (FPV) system and an electric motor, which can be used via variable-frequency drive (VFD) with a smart control system, or through a mobile application.
The groundbreaking ceremony was one of the highlights of the first Mountain Engineering Summit organized by DOSTPCIEERD and DOST-CAR where it gathered experts and professionals in the field and discussed issues and the necessary interventions that can be done through science, technology and innovation.
DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit expressed optimism over the opportunities that the innovation will bring to upland farmers in the area.
“We hope that through this project, we can ease the burden of our farmers in bringing their produce from farm to table, and increase their productivity. As a leader and partner in innovation, DOST-PCIEERD will continue to harness the power of science and technology in making the lives of our citizens easier,” he said.
Project leader Engr. Janice Kaye Aquino said the FPV system is small, light and highly responsive cameras. It is battery operated, thus, allowing the operator to have an almost real-time first-person-view of what is caught by the cameras.
The project is under “Program Boondock: A Mountain Engineering Center Toward Sustainable Infrastructure and Upland Water Security” and is expected to be completed in May 2023.
Paringit pointed out that the value and culture of local communities where sustainability and resiliency are two of its most important pillars.
“This is truly a momentous occasion for us at PCIEERD because of our desire to highlight projects that harmonize the relationship of people, technology and environment in a manner that respects culture. We were really pushing for this project to happen,” he said.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by DOST-CAR counterparts, Bauko and Mountain Province officials, and the Towaden-bito Farmers Association project beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
Bauko town is one of the highly elevated areas in the Cordilleras, where the road network remains a challenge faced by the residents, DOST-PCIEERD said.
In the 2022 rankings released by the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index of the Department of Trade and Industry, Bauko was at the 170th spot with a score of negative 20 percent for infrastructure, of which road network scored 0.0005, DOSTPCIEERD added.
It is also the lowest of the 10 indicators, including distance to ports, availability of basic utilities, transportation vehicles, education, health, local government unit investment, accommodation capacity, information technology capacity, and financial technology capacity.