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Agri Dept. allots P5B for rice farming machines to raise yields, income
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is infusing P5 billion into the rice sector this year and in 2013 in the form of small-scale machineries to raise farm yields, develop a new generation of farmers, and "excite the farm machinery industry to invest more." Introduction of "simple, accessible, practical and efficient farm machineries" can have a catalytic effect on rice production in the country and gradually "level up" rice farmers’ lives, Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas said in a news conference Thursday morning. The farming process can be significantly shortened with the use of machines ranging from P1,800 devices that removes weeds and cultivates the soil, to larger P2.5 million worth of harvesting equipment for communal farms, he pointed out. In 2012, DA budgeted its "Makina Saka" program with P2.638 billion and P2.449 billion for 2013. These are on top of the P1.05 billion spent in 2011. The DA said the country has roughly three million rice farmers. Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) executive director Rex Bingabing said they are encouraging small scale farmers–of rice and high-value crops–to invest in machines that cost less than P20,000. Bingabing said such investments could enable some farms to produce corn flour or tomato paste. To make equipment more affordable to farmer groups and irrigators' associations, DA is shouldering up to 80 percent of the machines’ acquisition cost, while the organizations take on the remaining 15 percent–part of which can be sourced from local government units or other local sources of financing. Rudinas said the Makina Saka exhibition from July 4 to 7 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City would serve to kick-start a series of roadshows to explain the benefits of appropriate mechanization. He likened the use of farm machines to how basic calculators made it much easier and more efficient for people to compute numbers instead of doing mental math. DA has invited over 900 stakeholder groups to see the wide range of equipment their farms could use to significantly improve their incomes, make their workload much lighter and enable them to work much faster. By example, Rudinas said if it would take 20 man-animal days to prepare a one-hectare rice field, the use of machines can improve land preparation efficiency to four hectares in one day. PhilMech’s Bingabing explained there are some situations in which some machines have to be adapted to the Philippine conditions. "As of April this year PhilMech is ahead of schedule in distributing various farm equipment to qualified farmers' organizations," he said. The equipment consists of:
- 644 hand tractors
- 33 four-wheel tractors
- 270 palay threshers
- 14 single-pass rice mills
- 326 rice drum seeders
- 90 rice cutter/harvester/reapers.
