Technology is helping a growing rice enterprise in Cagayan turn post-harvest by-products into useful resources, demonstrating how innovation can improve productivity while supporting a more sustainable agricultural cycle.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), led by Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., together with Undersecretary for Regional Operations Engr. Sancho A. Mabborang and DOST Region 2 Regional Director Dr. Virginia Belgeria, visited Sampaguita Twin’s Buying Station and Rice Mill Co. in Cagayan as part of the 2026 Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Week (RSTW).
Managed by Eduardo Santos Carpio, the enterprise provides rice milling, grain trading, and post-harvest storage services to farmers and grain suppliers in Solana, Tuao, Sto. Niño, and Piat.
With technology upgrading support, the rice mill has strengthened its post-harvest operations, allowing faster processing, improved grain quality, better storage, and reduced dependence on weather conditions. These improvements contribute to higher productivity and income while helping the enterprise remain competitive.
More importantly, the rice milling operation demonstrates how agricultural by-products can be put to productive use.
Rice hulls generated during milling, for instance, can serve as biomass fuel for the mechanical dryer, providing an alternative energy source while reducing the amount of waste from processing. Rice bran, locally known as darak, can likewise be utilized as an ingredient in animal feed, particularly for hogs.
Other agricultural materials may also be processed into organic soil inputs, such as compost combined with animal manure, which can eventually be used to support crop production.
Through these practices, materials generated from rice processing gain value beyond their original purpose. What begins as palay from the farm can become rice for consumers, bran for animal feed, and rice hulls for energy, while properly processed organic materials can return nutrients to agricultural land.
This creates a cycle that gives deeper meaning to the concept “From the Farm, Back to the Farm”—maximizing the value of agricultural resources, reducing waste, and creating additional opportunities from every harvest.
The experience of Sampaguita Twin’s Buying Station and Rice Mill Co. highlights how government technology interventions, coupled with the initiative of local enterprises, can generate benefits beyond improved milling operations. By strengthening post-harvest systems and making better use of available resources, technology can help build more resilient, productive, and sustainable agricultural communities. (NELSON SANTOS)