Mechanized rice farming improves yield, income

Mechanizing farm operations is the best way to solve the lack of skilled farm workers during the peak of transplanting and harvesting season.

In Region 2, mechanized rice farming resulted in lower production cost due to savings in labor, said Engr. Generoso Oli, head of the field operations division of Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 2.

Oli said the project showcased and promoted mechanized seeds and seedling preparation, crop establishment, and harvesting to farmers’ organization.

The technologies reduced production cost and man-day labor requirement. It addressed the problem of labor scarcity in the region during peak season.

In a report to PCAARRD, Oli and his team introduced rice production using mechanized crop establishment machinery such as mechanical transplanter and direct seeder suitable for medium-elevated irrigated conditions in Region 2.

In 2017, they set up five demonstration sites during the wet season. These are located in Fugu, Ballestero, Cagayan; Baculud, Amulung, Cagayan; Nuesa, Roxas, Isabela; La Paz, Cabanatuan, Isabela; and Dadap, Solano, Nueva Vizcaya.

For each of the five sites, three demonstration plots, each with an area of 0.5 hectare, were allocated for the use of mechanical direct seeder, mechanical transplanter, and conventional method of crop establishment.

The results were positive. Compared with the conventional manual transplanting, the labor requirement in all five project sites reduced by 80 to 84 percent using mechanical direct seeder and 40 to 50 percent using mechanical transplanter.

Farm Workers needed for crop establishment using mechanical direct seeder were 5 and 15 workers for mechanical transplanter, at eight hours of work per day. These values were lower compared with conventional farming’s labor requirement of 26-32 persons.

The project attained the recommended plant population for both direct mechanical seeder and transplanter because of the precise distance of plants between rows and hills.

Oli said the use of mechanical direct seeder resulted in rice yields ranging from 5.18 to 7.97 tons per hectare (t/ha). Three of the five demo sites gave yields higher than conventional farming.

On the other hand, the use of mechanical transplanter resulted in rice yields ranging from 5.99 to 8.2 t/ha due to higher plant population, productive tillers, and filled grains. Four demo sites gave values that are a bit higher or comparable with the yields from conventional farming.

With mechanical direct seeder, the lowest total production cost was recorded in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya at P32,880 per hectare. Net income was highest in Nuesa, Roxas, Isabela at P101,025 per hectare and highest return on investment of 238 percent.

With the mechanical transplanter, the lowest total production cost per hectare of P41,288 was recorded in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, also with the highest net income of P103,892 and highest returns on investment of 249 percent.