Bicol University

College of Agriculture and Forestry

Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Guinobatan, Albay 4503

ASSESSMENT ON THE LEVEL OF MECHANIZATION IN

THE PHILIPPINES PARTICULARLY ON RICE
PRODUCTION

JHUNE N. FABRICANTE
V - AEN1

December 19, 2019

INTRODUCTION

Mechanization in any area is characterized into three levels: low, fair, and high.
Low mechanization level means that manual power used exceeded 33%. Fair means
that animal power utilization ranges from 34% to 100%. High means that mechanical
power utilization ranges from 67% to 100% (Rodulfo, et. al, 1998).

Mariano,Marc Jim, et. al employ binary logit and Poisson estimators to model
socioeconomic, institutional and environmental factors influencing the adoption of
certified seeds, in particular, and integrated crop management practices, in general, in
rice production in the Philippines. Estimates of factors influencing adoption are
reasonably consistent between the two models but some differences are noted,
particularly with respect to soil deficiencies and risk aversion. Results were found to be
consistent between models in terms of the positive impacts on the adoption of certified
seed technology and integrated crop management practices of farmers’ education,
machinery ownership, irrigation water supply, capacity-enhancement activities and
profit-oriented behavior. Conversely, soil and nutrient deficiencies are impediments to
their adoption. Extension-related variables have the biggest impact on technology
adoption. (Mariano,Marc Jim, et. al, July 2012)

The paper provided information on the status of on-farm paddy mechanization in

the Philippines as bases of formulating appropriate mechanization strategies and as
baseline information for future evaluation of existing mechanization programs.
Employing one shot cross-section survey designed interviews of rice farmers were
carried out in major rice production areas of the country. The survey covered 1,235 rice
farmers in 13 rice-producing provinces in 2012-2013. (Malanon, Hernaiz & Dela Cruz,
Renita. 2018)

Philippine rice production tripled from 5 million tons in 1970 to more than 16
million tons in 2008, with only a 44% increase in the area harvested. Instrumental to this
development is the use of the Green Revolution’s seed-fertilizer technology and access
to irrigation facilities, which doubled the yield per hectare in the same period. Production
gains fed the rapidly growing population and its increasing per-capita rice consumption.
Except for a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, rice imports were used to fill
the gap between demand and supply and to stabilize the domestic price of rice.

Rice is also the most extensively grown crop in the country, planted in about 30%
of the total agricultural area harvested (Dawe 2003). For two million families, rice
farming is the source of over half of the household income. In addition, millions of
landless farm workers, and tens of thousands of merchants indirectly depend on rice for
a living. Given the weight of rice’s social and economic ramifications, rice has always
been the principal focus of the government’s food security policies. (Bordey, Flordeliza
Hidalgo, 2010)

Extension services continue to evolve. With the challenges that extension

workers and farmers face, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) continues to explore
various strategies to improve its efforts as the extension and training arm of the
Department of Agriculture. In over 30 years, the ATI has celebrated various successes
and learned from the lessons during hard times. Nonetheless, we are proud to be
standing the test of time through the support of our partners and the clientele
themselves. (Agricultural Training Institute, November 2018, San Jose Del Monte,
Bulacan)

The population of the Philippines has more than tripled since IRRI developed the
first high-yielding variety and released it in the mid-1960s. Back then, the population was
only 32.7 million. The country’s population surpassed 93 million in 2010, with about 313
per km². The population grew at 1.9% per year for 2005-10, which was lower than the
2.4% for 1985-95. Urbanization has continued in recent years. The proportion of the
urban population increased from 57% in 2000 to around 65% in 2010. Employment in
the agricultural sector accounts for 31% of the about 39 million-person labor force.

The Philippines economy is vastly dependent on service and manufacturing. The

country’s most vital industries are food processing, textiles and garments, electronics,
and automobile parts. It also has substantial reserves of chromite, nickel, copper, coal,
and recently discovered oil. The nation’s GDP rose from $2,056 in 1995 to $3,952 in
2010. About 13% of GDP is contributed by the agricultural and fishery sector.

The Philippines is the world’s eighth-largest rice producer. Its arable land totals
5.4 million hectares. Rice area harvested has expanded from nearly 3.8 million hectares
in 1995 to about 4.4 million hectares in 2010. However, the country’s rice area
harvested is still very small compared with that of the other major rice-producing
countries in Asia. More than two-thirds (69%) of its rice area is irrigated. The country’s
production increased by a third, from 10.5 million t in 1995 to 15.8 million t in 2010.
Seventy-one percent of rice production came from irrigated areas. Although yield
improved from 2.8 t/ha in 1995 to 3.6 t/ha in 2010, it was still way below the yield
potential of modern varieties.

Rice is a staple food for most Filipinos across the country. The nation’s per capita
rice consumption rose from 93.2 kg per year in 1995 to 123.3 kg per year in 2009.
Similarly, per capita caloric intake from rice rose from 917 kcal per day in 1995 to 1,213
kcal per day in 2009. Protein requirements from rice, on average, increased from 29.7%
in 1995 to 34.8% per person per day in 2009. 

The Philippines imports about 10% of its annual consumption requirements. In

2010 and 2011, the country was the biggest rice importer. Its rice imports amounted to
2.38 million t in 2010, mostly coming from Vietnam and Thailand. Despite these imports,
rice prices for consumers are some of the highest in developing Asia (as are farm-gate
prices for farmers). The high prices are enforced through an import control by the
National Food Authority (NFA), a government agency, which also procures paddy from
farmers at a government support price. The NFA is also involved in rice distribution by
selling rice through the agency’s licensed and accredited retailers/wholesalers in
strategic areas at a predetermined price.

Although rice is the main staple in the country, it is a highly political commodity.
The Philippine rice sector has always been the center of the government’s agricultural
policies. The focal points of the policies revolve around promoting rice self-sufficiency
and providing high income to farmers while making rice prices affordable to consumers. 

One of the most significant programs of the government for the rice sector is “The
Philippine rice master plan 2009-13—enhancing provincial rice self-sufficiency.” This rice
master plan envisions a 100% self-sufficient rice economy by 2013 through improved
rice productivity, and increased income of rice farmers. This plan pursues location-
specific interventions that can help farmers achieve higher yield. It focuses on how
interventions can improve productivity toward sufficient yield. These include
improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of irrigation systems through
rehabilitation; the use of high-quality hybrid and inbred seeds and farmers’ varieties;
integrated and sustainable crop management technologies; the provision of soft loans
for the establishment of shallow tube wells and surface water pumps; and delivery of
extension support services. Rice seed subsidy schemes for farmers were implemented
to acquire high-yielding varieties, including hybrid rice varieties. 

The government also extends support for farm mechanization through its Rice
Mechanization Program. It aims to procure and distribute postharvest (drying and
milling) units and on-farm machinery through a financing scheme wherein the
government shoulders a big part of the cost.

The major rice-producing parts of the country are Central Luzon (18.7%), western
Visayas (11.3%), Cagayan Valley (11%), Ilocos region (9.8%), SOCCSKSARGEN
(7.5%), and Bicol region (6.8%). (IRRI Rice Almanac, 2013/ricepedia.org)
 A total of 1,200 respondents from Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and
Camarines Norte [Philippines] were interviewed using structured questionnaires.
Information such as size of farm holdings, tenure status, educational attainment,
average family income, machine used in farming operations sources of information
regarding machine used and other relevant information were gathered. Frequency
counts and percentages were used in the analysis. Results of the study showed that
average size of farm holdings in Bicol Region ranges one to three hectares only.
Majority of the farmers are share tenants and only one third of the respondents own
farms. Average monthly income of farmers also constrained mechanization. Likewise,
education and training of farmers and operators are inadequate and still need
intensification by both government agencies and machinery firms. Among problems
encountered regarding use of agricultural machinery, high cost of equipment ranked first
followed by high fuel cost small size of farm holdings and high repair and maintenance
cost. Other problems encountered were: unavailability of machine in locality, outstanding
credit in banks and unavailability of spare parts. Among the issues affecting agricultural
mechanization in the Bicol region are appropriate combination of hand tools, animal
draft and mechanical power technologies for each specific condition and introduction of
appropriate level of technology as determined by financial capacity of farmers. These
need to be given attention by both government and private sectors to maximize
production. (Onate, N.B, Pili, Camarines Sur)

The use of high quality seeds and farming machinery is what the Department of
Agriculture (DA), its bureaus and agencies, and partner organizations see as key for the
sufficiency, security, profitability, and competitiveness of rice production the country.

Barroga was among the DA officials who graced the opening and closing
ceremonies of the Training Course on the Production of High-quality Inbred Rice Seeds
and Farm Mechanization Batch 2 held this month. She furthered that the use of high-
quality seeds of the recommended variety gives farmers five to 20 percent increase in
yield, given the right conditions.

The training is part of the ongoing collaboration among the DA, PhilRice,
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech),
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and Villar Social Institute for Poverty and
Governance (Villar SIPAG). This is to capacitate more rice farmers in the country to
produce high-quality inbred rice seeds and promote its use.

They 10-day training included lectures and hands-on sessions on the PalayCheck
system, seed certification standards, farm machinery safety, land preparation, seedling
preparation, transplanting, harvesting, threshing, drying, among others. A total of 31
farmers from different areas in Luzon were part of the second batch.

Through this enhancement fund, all 1,100 cities and towns in the country will
receive Php1 million to Php5 million worth of farm machinery grants through PHilMech in
the next six years. Other fund allocations will go to training of trainers on rice seed
production and the establishment of farm schools in rice-producing areas in the country.

“We have to produce good seeds that will improve harvest per hectare. The
highest harvest so far is four metric tons (MT) per hectare in the provinces. With the
proper seeds, you [farmers] can increase yield from four to six MT, thereby increasing
production and income by 50 percent,” Villar said.

Villar also urged the graduates to teach other farmers in their respective areas
what they have learned from the training, “When you do so, we will be able to help our
rice farmers out of poverty. They can earn more and become competitive. Through this,
we can cut back on importation, [which is an advantage] particularly in this age of [trade]
liberalization.”

The said training was held on November 7-16, 2018 at the PhilRice Central
Experiment Station and at PHilMech in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. During the closing program
on November 17, held at the Villar SIPAG Farm School in this city, the participants
received their training certificates. They also took part in the PhilRice mini exhibit of rice
seed varieties, rice-based products, mobile applications, knowledge products, and farm
equipment. (Agricultural Training Institute, November 2018, Muῆoz, Nueva Ecija)

Problems, Issues and Constraints of mechanization in the Philippines.

Small Farm Size. Of the 4.61 million farms counted in 1991, 78% of these are
less than 3 ha. Also from 1991 to 2002, the number of farms decreased by 2.36% (BAS,
2004). Reduced number of farms is due to land conversion to meet the housing,
industrial, and recreational needs of the population.

Small farm size is a big issue in agricultural mechanization because it is against the
principle of “economies of scale.” In land preparation and harvesting operations,
mechanizing small and non-contiguous parcels of land might be inefficient.

Decreasing Supply of Hired Labor in the Farm. Hired labor in the farm is
decreasing owing to preference of labor to employment opportunities in the urban
centers and abroad and high level of education and literacy in the labor force. In rice
production, labor costs represents around 60% of the total input costs in rice production.
Farmers therefore have to mechanize in order to lessen costs and dependence to the
unreliable supply of hired labor in the countryside while increasing crop productivity at
the optimum (Bautista, 2003).

Other marketing constraints are: seasonality of demand; prohibitive trucking and

shipping rates; keen competition from imported products; irrational taxes, duties for raw
materials and fabrication machines; and lack of volume of demand (AMMDA, 2003) .

Inadequate Technology Transfer Mechanisms. According to Khan (1991),

efforts to mechanize agriculture in many developing countries have been directed
towards introducing a variety of imported farm machines. This import-based technology
transfer strategy has not been successful to small farm holdings. One reason could be
the inappropriateness of the technology to local farming conditions as most of these
machines were developed in countries with large farm holdings.

Extension workers are the key persons in technology transfer. They need not only
interpersonal communication skills, but technical qualifications as well. With a very
limited number of extension staff for a big number of client-farmers, the result would
likely end-up in non-adoption of some technologies. Besides, these workers might be
lacking the capability to integrate the mechanization technology in the total farming
system. They too, might be lacking in trainings particularly dealing with agricultural
mechanization (Paras, 2005).

Inadequate Support Services. The lack of support services to ensure machine’s

acceptability to farmers has been a continuing constraint in promoting agricultural
machineries. These include limited access to credit, and ineffective marketing systems.

Prices of acquiring and maintaining durable farm machines continue to stay at levels
unaffordable to most farmers. One of the reasons is the high tariff rate levied by
government on imported agricultural machinery and parts. Imported farm machinery are
still levied a 10% value added tax. Note that locally manufactured machineries have high
import content.

The only means available for farmers to access machineries are credit facilities,
common ownerships through cooperatives and associations, and custom-hire
arrangements with private entrepreneurs. However, employing these means continue to
be minimal because of the limited cooperativism and small number of entrepreneurs
who engage in the business (AMMDA, 2003).
 Policy Constraints. One of the reasons for the proliferation of imported
equipment in the Philippines is the adoption of liberal import policies and lack of import
restrictions on agricultural machinery. This is in addition to unstructured tariff and
taxation systems, which had negative effects on the viability of the local agricultural
machinery manufacturing industry.

“Import duties on agricultural machinery in the Philippines range from 10% to 30%
for completely built-up (CBU) engines, 10% for completely knocked down engines (CKD)
and 50% for raw materials. As stated in a National Emergency Memorandum, tariff of
machinery and equipment was pegged at 10% and none for engines. The lowering of
tariff was reported to effect changes in output prices and increases in production. The
agriculture sector appears to be a net gainer in output as a result of the tariff reform”
(Cruz, 1990).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 shows the level of mechanization in rice and corn farming operations, expressed
in three main sources of power, namely: manual, man-animal and mechanical. The data
shows that human power dominates farm operations at an average of 56.53%.
Mechanical operations are applied mainly in milling, threshing or shelling, land
preparation, and planting. Animals continue to dominate land preparation. Sun drying is
still preferred by farmers. In terms of available power expressed as horsepower per
hectare (hp/ha), the level of mechanization stands at 1.68 hp/ha
(Table 2).
This is relatively low compared with other neighboring countries. The reason for this is
the abundance of manual labor, which dominates the use of human power in rice and
corn cultivation activities. The high hp/ha of power tillers and threshers indicate that the
use of mechanical power in land preparation and threshing is increasing. Irrigation,
harvesting, and drying have low hp/ha level.

Compared with other Asian countries, the Philippines ranks 9th in terms of level of
mechanization at 0.52 hp/ha in 1990 (Table 3). This again is very low compared with
Japan at 7.00 hp/ha, Republic of Korea at 4.11 hp/ha, and People’s Republic of China at
3.88 hp/ha (RNAM, 19
In terms of rice production, RNAM report indicates that the Philippines ranks eighth and
sixth of 11 countries in terms of mechanization level and production per hectare. Korea
toped the list followed by China both based on total power source. China and Korea
ranked first and second, respectively in terms of production per hectare (Table 4).

AMDP (1998) did a correlation analyses to determine the possible relationship between
the two variables. The computed linear coefficient of 0.7645 shows a degree of
relationship between the level of mechanization (independent variable) and the
production per hectare (dependent variable). However, it does not explain how the level
of mechanization affects the production per hectare since there are other factors that
could affect production per unit hectare such as farm inputs application and farmer’s
capability to increase inputs.

Factors influencing farmers' adoption of modern rice technologies and good

management practices in the Philippines

Results of this study provide information that is important in domestic policy

making. Avenues for policy implementation to be analyzed for their contribution to net
social benefits include the delivery of more capacity-enhancement activities,
mechanization options and affordable credit to farmers as well as the provision of
irrigation facilities and improved water technologies. Moreover, the government should
consider short-term strategies that offset environmental adversities such as drought and
submergence. Lastly, government interventions to improve the educational status of
farming households, overcome the effects of small farm size and encourage more profit-
oriented behavior by farmers are necessary to enhance technology adoption in rice
production in the long run.

To determine the effects of rice yield in level of mechanization in the

Philippines

Results showed that rice farm operations such as threshing and land preparation were
already highly mechanized with 93% of paddy volume passing through mechanical
threshers and 79% of areas being serviced by machines. Land preparation activities
such as planting, fertilizer application, dike repair/clearing and spraying were still done
predominantly using manual power. The power utilized in land preparation was 61% of
the total power utilized from land preparation to threshing of palay, followed by the
power utilized in threshing (24%), harvesting (7%), and transplanting and crop
management (2%). The high power required in land preparation and threshing was a
major reason for the higher preference of rice farmers to own and/or operate hand
tractors and threshers as 52 and 25% of them owned and operated hand tractors and
mechanical threshers, respectively. Several recommendations were forwarded to guide
program planners and implementers in crafting regional mechanization plans.
REFERENCES:

Rodulfo, et. al, 1998

http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/

Mariano, Marc Jim, et. al, July 2012

https://www.sciencedirect.com/

Malanon, Hernaiz & Dela Cruz, Renita. 2018

https://www.researchgate.net/

Bordey, Flordeliza Hidalgo, 2010

https://core.ac.uk/

Agriculture Training Institute, November 2018

http://ati.da.gov.ph/

IRRI Rice Almanac 2013

http://ricepedia.org/

Onate, N.B. Pili Camarines Sur

http://agris.fao.org/