(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte led the inauguration on Friday evening (July 5) of a rice processing center in Leyte which, he said, is one of the government-private initiatives to “sustain our rice supply and ensure food security for our nation.”
The two-hectare complex is the most technologically advanced rice processing center in Southeast Asia and the largest in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, Malacanang said.
The P1.7-billion Chen Yi Agventures (CYA) Rice Processing Complex was established through the joint effort of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), a Palace release said.
Chen Yi Agventures is the only fully integrated and sustainable rice production business in the Philippines. It is owned by Rachel Renucci-Tan and Patrick Renucci,
“This project is a testament to our commitment to find more ways to actively respond to the various problems and challenges confronting the agricultural industry…that we are taking initiatives to sustain our rice supply and ensure food security for our nation,” the President said during the unveiling of the facility’s marker.
The new processing center uses temperature-controlled silos with a total capacity of 6,000 metric tons for its Phase 1, keeping dried palay in a freshly harvested condition for over one year and enabling the facility to produce world-class rice.
Duterte said that he believed that the Renucci partnership program could improve the well-being of the country’s farmers by helping them realize their role as the true drivers of agricultural development.
“I hope that CYA and the local government of Leyte will continue to take further strides in spurring countryside development as well as the others in advancing the rice industry towards more progressive and modern practices,” he said.
Also present during Friday’s unveiling were Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Solicitor General Jose Calida, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez, Municipal Mayor Lovell Anne Yu, and Chen Yi Agventures Rice Processing Complex founder François Patrick Renucci.