The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is upgrading its Multi-Row Onion Mechanical Seeder (MROS) with 10 rows, modifying it to increase its rows to 12 and testing its usage in planting other vegetables. In a statement, PhilMech said it has developed the 10-row onion mechanical seeder to help farmers improve their productivity through the direct seeding method. The seeder can do furrowing/bed forming and seed sowing in a single operation, improving the efficiency in planting onions. “Based on the evaluation, the PhilMech MROS can be used in seeding other vegetable crops more than two to three times faster than manual broadcasting. Traditional practice in planting onions requires 15 to 20 people.

Source: Manila Times March 11, 2020 17:29 UTC