By: April A. Paligumba BSABE-3
One hundred nineteen (119) Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (BSABE) students of Central Philippine University together with their three professors participated in the Kubota Saka Agri Talk 2023 event hosted by Kubota Philippines Inc. (KPI) and Iloilo New-Agri Industrial and General Marketing Services Inc. (INAIGMSI) on October 12-13, 2023 at INA Farmers Learning Site and Agri-farm in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
Day 1 of the exclusive event for CPU students featured five talks where they got introduced to the farm mechanization update of the Philippines, as well as the latest agricultural machinery innovations, featuring Kubota products presented by agricultural and biosystems engineers and field experts. As an extra activity, the hosts provided post-talk assessment to evaluate the day’s proceedings and learnings; the day ended with an open-forum where students had the opportunity to ask related questions, receiving in-depth answers.
The second day of the event highlighted hands-on demonstrations and operation of various Kubota products on which the students got the chance to experience handling of specific agricultural machinery, including four-wheel tractors, combine harvesters, ride-on and walk-behind rice transplanters, and a special exhibition of the cutting-edge agricultural drone. The hosts also held special events, such as the Machine Parts Identification contest; a one-minute speed identification test and a cheers-and-chants competition together with the students’ assigned groups.
The event concluded with recognition to the participants, stakeholders, and hosts, as well as the awarding of the prizes to the winners of the assessments and contests.
The students’ participation was spearheaded by the Philippine Society of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers-Pre-professional Group (PSABE-PPG) Central Philippine University Chapter officers, along with their advisers and professors, Dr. Aries Roda Romallosa, Engr. Levi delos Santos and Engr. Mysel Taladhay.
The event and the students’ participation also received support from the Department of Agriculture 6 – Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-WESVIARC), represented by Engr. Flerida Demamay, a CPU alumnus along with other Centralian Engineers, who were also present and helped in facilitating the said event.
This event underscored the significance of nurturing the next generation of agricultural and biosystems engineers and highlighted the exciting career opportunities that await them in the field of design, testing