QUEZON CITY, (PIA) – The Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech), distributed 16,167 free machinery and equipment to qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, PhilMech Director Dionision Alvindia noted some 682,502 farmers nationwide were recipients of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund’s (RCEF) Mechanization Program as of December 2021.

“We just need to clarify that while these are free, we call on the farmers to please join groups as we prioritize farmer cooperatives and associations as beneficiaries of the program,” Alvindia said.

Alvindia expressed that his office had already procured 19,542 machinery. Among these were wheel tractor, hand tractor, PTO-driven disc plow/harrow, precision seeder, walk-behind transplanter, riding type transplanter, rice reaper, combine harvester, and impeller rice mill.

“Our goal is to reduce the production cost of rice farmers so they can save up some for their savings and other farm needs. These (pieces of) machinery, which are given by the government for free, are meant to make the farmers’ lives more convenient, work will be faster, and there will be more yield compared to manual or traditional way of farming,” Alvindia added.

Of the P10-billion RCEF budget, P5 billion goes to farm machinery and equipment, P3 billion to inbred seed, P1 billion to farm credit, and P1 billion to training.

The DA emphasized the RCEF Mechanization Program helps the rice farmers to raise the output of palay or unmilled rice while lowering production costs.

Alvindia cited that these accomplishments are due to the signing into law of the Republic Act No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law in 2019. (JAFD/PIA-IDPD)

SOURCE: https://pia.gov.ph/