Dagupan City (27 November) -- Thousands of Pangasinan farmers yesterday witnessed the lowering of the time capsule that signals the start of the construction of the Modern Rice Processing Complex in Pangasinan.

The multi-million project grant by the Korean government, will be built at the provincial nursery in barangay Tebag, Sta. Barbara.

At the ground breaking ceremony, the Korean government led by Korea International Cooperating Agency (KOICA) President Kim In, together with Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture and Pangasinan government officials led by Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) which contains the responsibilities of the signatories for the project.

The state-of-the-art post harvest facilities will serve as a one-stop shop for milling, drying and storing, thus, helping reduce post-harvest losses. It will also enhance higher production and increase the income of farmers.

The construction starts in November and is expected to finish on May 2010.

Governor Espino, in his speech, has expressed gratitude to the Korean Government for making the province of Pangasinan one of the project recipients for the construction of Modern Integrated Rice Complexes (RPC) in the Philippines.

He also thanked Sec. Yap for endorsing Pangasinan to become the site of the modern RPC even as he expressed optimism that the Modern Integrated Rice Processing Complex will boost the province' agricultural development thrusts.

"With the rise of RPC in our province, we hope the province will be able to attain 95 percent increase of rice production in the coming years. More so, it will help not only the farmers in Pangasinan but also those from the nearby provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija increase their income," he added.

Gov. Espino said the construction of RPC costs around P196 million with a counterpart from the province.