Farm mechanization urged
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has urged local farmers in Palawan to fully mechanize rice farming in order to lower their production cost and sustain rice production in the country. Vicente Binasahan Jr., agricultural program coordinating officer for Palawan North told Palawan News on Monday that their office is continuously promoting rice farm mechanization and is providing farm equipment to farmers’ organizations. A farmers group can submit a request or a proposal to their office for the provision of mechanized equipment like tractors, threshers, harvesters, etc. “Patuloy na nagbibigay ang DA ng mga farm equipment, para ma-fully mechanized ang production. Kasi kung e-modernize, mechanized ang agriculture mas less ang losses,” he said. Binasahan explained that a local rice farmer has P12 to P13 production cost per kilogram which is higher compared to rice farmers in neighboring Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam which is only at P5 to P7 per kilogram. “Masyadong mataas ang production cost per kilogram dito sa atin, pumatak na ng P12 to P13 per kilo ng palay. Kung binenta mo lang ang palay mo sa local trader ng P13 ay break even ka lang, kung ibenta mo ng P17, maliit pa rin ang profit mo,” he said. He compared the P5 production cost per kilogram of palay in neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand, which is lesser. If their palay buying price is at P12, for example, they have a higher profit margin, compared to our local farmers. The program of DA, Binasahan said, is to help the farmers to fullymechanized their farming in order to lessen the production cost due to the hiring of many farm workers. “Sa farm mechanization ay less yung tao, mas mataas sa production cost kung gumamit ka ng maraming tao,” he explained. A farm tractor for instance in land preparation can prepare from three to five hectares for one day, while it would take one week or more in traditional farming that needs more farm workers.
“Sa tractor ay three to five hectares sa buong maghapon kayang e prepare. Kung tao yan, abutin ng ilang linggo,” he said. A combined harvester, on the other hand, depending on the terrain and the rice paddy, can harvest palay in an area of three to five hectares per day, and the threshed palay is already put in the sack. He said that the paddy should be dry when the said harvester is used. “Hindi na puputulin ang uhay kasi sa combined harvester ay treshed palay na yung nasa sako,” Binasahan added. Harvesting in traditional rice farming will not only entail more farm workers but is also laborious and time-consuming thus the farmer entail more expenses. Once fully mechanized, a local farmer’s production cost per kilogram of palay will be only at P 7 to P 8 per kilo, thus giving him bigger profit margin. “Yan naman ang objective ng DA, na sa pamamagitan ng farm mechanization ay mapababa ang production cost ng ating mga farmers. Sa P 17 na buying price ay halos wala nang ganansya ang farmer dun, i-consider mo pa yung losses, incidental expenses,” he said.