November 22, 2013
Philippines to tackle mechanisation in its Annual Rice Forum
After Typhoon Santi hit the Philippine provinces of Nueva Ecija and Isabela and flattened the rice fields, no labourers would like to harvest, and so combine harvesters were used.
This was the firm pronouncement of Asia Rice Foundation (ARF) Chair, Santiago R. Obien.
Mechanisation is second among the five major programmes under the Department of Agriculture (DA)''s Food Staples Sufficiency Programme (FSSP). However, promoting the use of farm machinery is still a sensitive topic as there are apparent excess labour supply and low wages in farming communities. On the other hand, timeliness of operations and cost considerations make farm mechanisation economical especially in the context of rising total production. In addition, it can reduce labour cost which typically accounts for 45% of the total production cost.
The Philippine farms are among the least mechanised in Southeast Asia using only 0.5 horsepower per hectare (hp/ha), according to the DA-Philippine Centre for Post Harvest Development and Mechanisation (PhilMECH). Neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand have higher mechanisation rate of 0.7 hp/ha, while fully mechanised Japan uses seven hp/ha. Incidentally, these countries are also top rice producing and exporting nations.
"The use of machines is definitely the better option now like in the case of land preparation. We have to determine how we can both achieve higher farm mechanisation rate while continue to provide jobs for displaced farm workers," Obien remarked.
These perspectives form the central theme of this year''s Annual Rice Forum. Dubbed "Mechanisation in Rice Farming: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities," the Rice Forum seeks to gather information and ideas that will be used to form the National Agricultural Mechanisation Roadmap (NAMR). The NAMR aims to intensify and synch national programmes for in-country machinery development, which could provide more and better jobs to farming areas and strengthen rice production capabilities.
Set on November 22 at the Bureau of Soils and Water Management Auditorium in Diliman, Quezon City, the Rice Forum will convene more than a hundred agricultural engineers, farm experts, and administrators from both the government and private sector. The Rice Forum supports the recently passed Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanisation Law and the National Year of Rice 2013 Programme. Eleven science papers will be presented during the day-long event.