Cagayan town mayor praises PGMA for OTOP fund
BAYOMBON, Nueva Vizcaya (26 October) -- A town mayor in Cagayan province recently thanked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for receiving funds from one of her livelihood programs in the country.
Mayor Zenaida Maguigad of Camalaniugan town in Cagayan said she was very grateful for the Arroyo administration for having granted her municipality P1 million under the One Town, One Product (OTOP) program through the provincial government of Cagayan.
Maguigad has introduced the adoption of the accelerated biodegration technology or bioreactor technology using the OTOP und in her town which is now reaping enormous gains.
"Instead of piling these wastes at the dumpsite which may even cause diseases, we thought it would be better if we will convert them into organic fertilizers," Maguigad added.
By using the technology, an initial production of 250 to 300 bags of organic fertilizer in a month has been realized. The fertilizers are sold to farmers in town at P150.00 per bag.
Developed by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), the technology is an accelerated termophilic in-vessel composting system.which is a high temperature reactor-based composting technology designed to hasten the composting process for the rapid stabilization of organic wastes.
Composting involves a five-day retention time in the bioreactor and a 30-day curing or maturation period. It operates with a targeted initial moisture content of 50-50 percent.
Maguigad said the project was conceptualized to address the solid waste management problem in the municipality where every resident produces more than a kilogram of waste per day.
The mayor said the technology is advantageous to local government units specially those with meager funds since the technology project only requires one or two laborers for a 500 kilogram a day composting operation.
She said she envisions other residents to patronize the technology by putting up their own compost pits using the bioreactor because of the income that they can derive from the fertilizers produced or for their own use.
The OTOP project in the town was supported by the technicians of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and personnel of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the provincial planning office of the provincial government of Cagayan who provided technical assistance. (PIA NVizcaya) [top]
