Ozamiz coop pursues success thru technology

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental – When success is the only option, failure is out of the picture. And this proves true for Ozamiz City Integrated Cooperative (OCIC) who never gave up on a technology challenge. And with the assistance of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Region 10, OCIC through the agency’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) project, the cooperative has been successful.

The willingness to change and the flexibility to adopt are always the winning measures to grasp success in technology adoption, according to DOST. OCIC is into rice milling and trading with members that are mostly palay farmers. With more than decades of operation, OCIC realized there is a need to embrace new technology particularly for the drying of rice grains. In 2012, OCIC’s Manager Grace Monarca sought the assistance of DOST through its Provincial Science and Technology Center in Misamis Occidental under SETUP. The assistance was to mechanize the drying facility.

However, with the upgraded mechanical dryer, project operation for three years had not been swiftly carried out as there were glitches on the machine. Nevertheless, OCIC continued its operation and still certain that technology can give the cooperative a breakthrough.

For DOST, its assistance to OCIC was not the case of “plant and forget,” which Monarca was thankful for. Last year, under the Local Grant-Aid program of DOST, the drying facility was rehabilitated to enable OCIC become fully operational free from technology glitches. “Nalipay mi na wala mi gibiyaan sa DOST hangtud na namaayo ang dryer,” Monarca said.

Since its rehabilitation, the mechanical dryer has been of great help to its operation. Drying hours are shortened from two to three days to 14 hours, dried rice grains will not result to broken rice after milling and it has no scorching smell.

In October and November 2018, just before the harvest season ended, the cooperative was able to use the rehabilitated mechanical dryer and dried 1,000 sacks or 60,000 kgs of rice grains and in April 2019, OCIC was able to use the mechanical dryer unhampered. Monarca expressed her gratitude to DOST because the drying facility became fully operational.

The project is not only her legacy to the cooperative, but it made her realized to consider failure only an option and she chose success. “Bisan mo retire nako, active gihapon ko mosuporta sa coop. Nakita nako dako ug matabang ang technology sama sa pag upgrade sa galingan. Naa’y mga problema pero dili lang mo surrender,” Monarca said. (With a report from Mindanao Examiner)

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