ABOUT P15 billion worth of farm machinery and equipment will be provided to at least one million farmers to enable them to mechanize their operations and reduce the average cost of producing rice.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said that the assistance is part of the continued implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

Dar added that providing the rice farmers with these equipment will make them globally competitive.

The RTL or Republic Act 11203 allots P10 billion yearly from tariffs of imported rice for six years, from 2019 to 2024, for the RCEF program aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the Philippine rice industry.

Dar disclosed that one-half or P5B of RCEF is allotted for farm mechanization, P3B for inbred certified rice seeds, and P1B each for credit, and training and extension.

During the first two years, the DA through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has procured 15,918 units of various farm machinery and equipment, of which 55 percent (%) or 8,702 have already been distributed to 679,486 farmers, belonging to 3,804 Farmer Cooperatives and Associations (FCAs) in 57 provinces, where the RCEF program is implemented.

The PhilMech said that this year, it will procure 5,098 units, and distribute these to 1,600 FCAs with 284,800 farmer-members.

Of the total farm machinery and equipment, 2,574 units are for land preparation like four-wheel and one-hand tractors, and attachments like tillers, totaling P1.7B; 496 units for crop establishment like transplanters and seeders, worth P500 million; and 2,028 units of post-harvest equipment like mechanical harvesters, threshers and milling machines, worth P2.8B.

PhilMech studies showed that mechanizing rice production operations, from land preparation to harvest, can reduce the production cost of palay (paddy rice) by P2 to P3 per kilogram (kg).

Currently, the cost of producing palay in the Philippines is at P12.72 per kilo, while it is P6.22 in Vietnam and P8.86 in Thailand, according to studies by DA’s Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

In a report to Dar, DA-PhilMech Director Baldwin Jallorina assured that the distribution of farm machinery and equipment to rice farmers’ groups will continue despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We at PhilMech believe that 2021 is pivotal as it is mid-way of the six-year implementation of the RTL and RCEF, particularly the farm mechanization and three other components,” said Jallorina.

“We are confident that by the end of the six-year implementation of the RTL and RCEF, coupled with our initiatives under the Philippine integrated rice program, we will be able to reduce the cost to about P8 to P9 per kilo, thus making us at par with our counterparts in ASEAN,” Dar added.