DA urges landless farmers to organize

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging landless farm workers to organize themselves as farm service providers (FSP) to take advantage of the government’s mechanization program.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said landless rural workers trained to use farm machinery could enter into service arrangements with landowners, therefore sustaining their source of livelihood.

In Central Luzon, for instance, the Agriculture department has helped farm workers organize themselves as FSPs. These include groups such as  Samahang Kaunlaran sa Balubaran Lingap at Katagumpayan ng Laur, Nueva Ecija; farmers of Brgy. Dikildit, Maria Aurora, Aurora; the Sta. Lucia Young Farm Service Provider Association ng Zaragosa, Nueva Ecija, and Amucao Seed Growers Agro-Industrial Cooperative in Tarlac City.

In Koronadal City, FIRMUS Farm service provider cooperative is now providing farm service in rice production areas.

“Farmers groups can get funds through counterpart scheme,” said Alcala.

The DA is implementing a cost-sharing scheme with cooperatives wherein the government shoulders 85 percent of the cost of farm equipment and the qualified farmer organization shoulders the remaining 15 percent.

Through this financing scheme, landless farmers could avail of various machines like reapers, threshers, transplanters, and hand tractors.

The DA is pushing for greater mechanization in Philippine farms to strengthen the production capability of farmers, thus enabling them to cope with increased trade pressure that would come with the economic integration in Southeast Asia by 2015.

The Philippines still lags behind other countries in Southeast Asia in terms of farm mechanization. Among the leaders in Asia are Japan with a mechanization level of seven horsepower  pe hectare (hp/ha), South Korea at 4.11 hp/ha, China with 4.10 hp/ha, and Vietnam with 1.56 hp/ha.

The country’s farm mechanization level is now currently at par with those of Pakistan and India which have mechanization levels of 1.02 ph/ha.

The Philippines imports most of its farm machinery needs, especially heavy equipment like combined harvesters.

The DA has allocated P4.12 billion for its farm mechanization drive in its proposed 2015 budget. This is part of the P51.7 billion financial programming for the entire department, its attached agencies and corporations.

For this year, the DA has allocated P4.16 billion for agri-fishery machineries, equipment and support services.

Increased farm mechanization, or the use of machinery to ease drudgery and time spent on crop cultivation and maintenance, could significantly shorten land preparation time from one month to only two weeks, and harvest time from a regular coverage of one hectare per day to four hectares per day.

The government’s push for increased mechanization has been met with apprehensions from landless farm workers who fear loss of employment once their landlords adopt highly mechanized commercial farming.