Philmech: Lockdowns, manpower shortage hinder distribution of free farm machinery to farmers

THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (Philmech) said domestic lockdowns and lack of manpower caused delays in the distribution of free farm machinery to rice farmers.

At a virtual news briefing on Monday, Philmech Executive Director Baldwin Jallorina Jr. explained that localized lockdowns and movement restrictions imposed by local government units have hampered their distribution of farm machinery to rice farmer’s cooperatives and associations.

Jallorina pointed out there were instances last year that Philmech employees were not allowed to enter the provinces to deliver the machinery despite national guidelines crafted by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases( iatf) exempting them from any form of movement restriction.

“Hindi makapasok sa lgus kas ikanya- kanya si lang rules. Na de-delay. We have been coordinating with IATF and local rules are being relaxed, hopefully we can deliver all the [2019 and 2020 funded] farm machinery by end of April,” he said. (We cannot enter the LGUS due to varying rules on mobility. Deliveries are delayed)

“Like Bohol dati hindi kami makapasok. As of yesterday, nakapasok na po kami sa Region 8 particularly in the province of Samar,” he added. (For example Bohol, we cannot enter that province. As of yesterday also we have been able to enter Region 8 particularly the province of Samar) Jallorina added that the situation is worsened by the limited number of manpower in domestic manufacturing facilities due to Covid-19-related measures, which caused delay in the production of farm machinery and equipment.

“According to the local manufacturers, their work force is still limited in their plants,” he said.

Nonetheless, Philmech assured farmer cooperatives and association beneficiaries that all the units funded by the 2019 and 2020 Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) would be distributed by end-april.

Jallorina said 15,810 units out of the total 15,918 target units for the 2019 and 2020 have already been procured. However, Philmech, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, has only been able to distribute 8,702 various farm machinery and equipment to date, about 54 percent of the total target.

The Businessmirror broke the story on Monday that Philmech, as of March 21, was only able to deliver 50 percent of its machine distribution target using its 2019 and 2020 RCEF funds.

Under the six-year RCEF, which started in 2019, Philmech shall receive half of the P10-billion total fund annually for free farm machinery distribution to rice farmers cooperatives and association.

Jallorina said about 155,000 rice farmers in 57 rice-producing provinces have benefited from their farm machinery distribution to date.

For 2021, Philmech targets to distribute a total of 5,908 units of farm machinery to 1,600 identified farmer’s cooperatives and associations, Jallorina said.

Of the target units, about 2,574 units would be land preparation equipment (4-wheel tractors, hand tractors, floating tillers) worth P1.7 billion while 2,028 units are postharvest machinery (dryers, rice mills) worth P2.8 billion and the remaining P500 million would be used for 496 crop establishment equipment such as seeders and transplanters.

Jallorina said they will “do their best” to be able to procure and distribute the 2021 funded machinery before the year ends. Jallorina disclosed that they are also requesting to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) an advanced release of their 2022 RCEF funds in anticipation of the election ban.

In January, Businessmirror published a Broader Look story on the challenges and future of the government’s Rcef-backed farm machinery distribution tack (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/01/07/mechanizationmoves-agriculture-sector-slowbut-sure-to-modern-farming/).

A 72-page DA paper reviewing the RTL law 18 months after its enactment explained that the mechanization component was delayed “due to the complicated and cumbersome procurement process as well as the need to address failures in the past on the provision of public funds for machinery.”

Philmech also saw delays in receiving its budget, curtailing its conduct of activities related to the RCEP mechanization component.