8-28UTILIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION IN THE

PRODUCTION OF RICE AND CORN IN THE PHILIPPINES

Rossanna Marie C. AmongoAgricultural Engineer, Agricultural Mechanization Development Program

Institute of Agricultural Engineering, College of Engineering & Agro-industrial TechnologyUniversity of the Philippines Los Bafos, College Laguna, Philippines

[Keywords] Mechanization, Rice, Corn, Philippines

IntroductionThe Philippines is basically an agricultural country. About a third of the land area of 30 million hectares is underintensive cultivation. In 1996, the utilization of agricultural land based on crop area harvested was accounted forby palay with 3.9 million hectares, corn with 2.7 million hectares, coconut with 3.1 million hectares andvegetables with 0.7 million hectares (Philippine Statistical Year Book, 1998). With the application of agriculturalmechanization technologies, the sustained cultivation of additional 8 million hectares is possible. It should benoted that rice is the main staple food of Filipinos while corn served as the second staple crop with about onefifth of population utilizing 25% as food and 75% for livestock and poultry production.Mechanization TrendAgricultural mechanization in the Philippines started during the last years of the Spanish Era in the form of discharrows, cultivators, plows and corn planters. The use of farm machinery was significant prior to 1960. AfterWorld War II- four-wheel tractors from US, Britain, Japan and West Germany were imported. The initialintroduction of tractors was used primarily by the sugar industry. In 1960, power tillers were first introducedexclusively for rice land preparation and in 1972, locally made power tillers were introduced in the production ofrice and other crops. This paved the way of utilizing other farm machinery in production of rice and corn crop.Level of Mechanization in the PhilippinesThe level of mechanization in the Philippines in terms of percentage of farms using three sources of power is

shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. These show that almost all farm operations involved in rice and corn

production predominantly utilize human power. Furthermore, only threshing, milling and land preparationoperations are mechanized. Animal power is still widely used in land preparation although; the use of two andfour-wheel tractors is steadily increasing. On the other hand, due to the availability of solar energy and due tohigh cost and mismatched capacities of mechanical dryers, sun drying is still preferred by farmers.

Table 1. Percentage of rice and com farms using the three sources of power.

The level of mechanization in the Philippines in terms of available power (Hp/ha) is about 1.68 Hp/ha as shownin Table 2. This is rather low level when compared to other Asian neighbors like the Republic of Korea (4.0Hp/ha) and China (3.88 Hp/ha) (RNAM 1990). This level has increased significantly from the 0.36 Hp/ha markin the 1980's. From Table 2 and Figure 2, it is evident that abundant manual labor explains the predominantuse of human power in rice and corn cultivation activities. Moreover, the use of mechanical power in landpreparation and threshing is increasing as indicated by a high Hp/ha of power tillers and threshers. Irrigation,harvesting, and drying have low Hp/ha levels.

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Table 2. Level of mechanization In rice and corn farms

Ownership and Degree of UtilizationTable 3 and Figure 3 present the degree of utilization of farm machines in the Philippines. The table shows thatnot all farms have agricultural machinery because all machines except cultivators and weeders have ownership tonumber of farms ratio of less than 1.0 (0.16 to 0.93). Higher level of ownership is indicated for low costequipment such as plow, harrow, cultivator and weeder. It also indicates that owners may have leased, shared, orcustom-hired their machine/equipment because the number used to number owned ratio is greater than 1.0 (1.29to 6.63) especially with the machines with high investment costs. The degree of utilization is low as reflected inthe service area per unit machine.

Table 3. Census of agricultural equipment by farm, number owned and numberused (NCSO, 1991).

Conclusions and RecommendationsThe level of Philippine mechanization in rice and corn farming is still dominated by human and animaltechnology. However, in land preparation, threshing and milling operations mechanization has reached a highlevel. Majority of Philippine farms does not own production/post production equipment. Instead, sharing/customhiring is practiced. Ownership is high for low-cost equipment like plow hand-tools, etc. Also, the degree ofmachine utilization is low as reflected in the serviceable area.

Mechanization may not increase production per se but it could increase land and labor productivity in terms ofproduction per unit area per unit time. Hence, the intensification of agricultural mechanization efforts isnecessary for attaining food security and to accelerate the industrialization of the country.ReferencesAmongo, Rossana Marie C. Country Report Philippines. A paper submitted to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the

Group Training Course on Farm Mechanization. February 12-November 10, 2001. Tsukuba International Center, Tsukuba, Japan.

Bureau of Agricultural Statistics. 1997. Agricultural Indicators System. Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.

Del Rosario, A.C., Rossana Marie C. Amongo, Teresita F. Bueno, Lilia O. Faigmane & Arsenio N. Resurreccion. 1991. Farm Mechanization Needs Analysis for Region IV. Agricultural Mechanization Development Program, College of Engineering and Agro-

Industrial Program, U.P. Los Baftos, College, Laguna.

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Regional Network for Agricultural Machinery (ESCAP-RNAM). 1990.

National Statistics Office. 1991. National Census of Agriculture. Manila.

National Statistic Office. 1998. Philippine Statistical Year Book.

Rodulfo, Victor A., Jr., Rossana Marie C. Amongo & Ma. Victoria L. Larona. 1998. Status of Agricultural Mechanization in the Philippinesand its Implication to Global Competitiveness. Philippine Agricultural Mechanization Bulletin. Special Issue. AgriculturalMechanization Development Program, College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology, University of the Philippines LosBarltos, College, Laguna. Philippines.

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