PhilMech eyes early procurement of RCEF machineries

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) will push through with plans on the early procurement of farm machines or technologies for next year under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

In a statement, PhilMech said it aims to advance the bidding for farm machines to be covered by the 2022 budget for the RCEF’s mechanization component.

The early procurement of machines would allow the agency to seamlessly distribute the technologies next year, PhilMech said.

Under the Rice Tariffication Law or RA 11203, P10 billion will be allocated annually to the RCEF from 2019 to 2024, P5 billion of which will be used for the distribution of farm machines at no cost to qualified farmer cooperatives and associations.

“We will submit the list, as well as budget request, so we can start with the procurement,” said PhilMech facility management and field operations division chief Joel Dator.

PhilMech continues to experience delays in the distribution of farm machines to beneficiaries.

As of Sept. 28, the agency had distributed 92 percent of the farm machines intended for 2019 and 88 percent of the machines intended for 2020.

“We will complete all deliveries for 2019 and 2020 before the end of this month,”said PhilMech executive director Baldwin Jallorina.

While the agency hopes to distribute all the machines intended for 2021 within the year, Jallorina said some of the distribution may be carried over to next year and is expected to be completed by the first quarter at the latest.