Throughout the history, Philippines have always been recognized as an agricultural country. In fact, Philippines is considered as the richest country when it comes to agriculture, both flora and fauna. Whereas, it has a total land area of 298,170 sq.km, has an agricultural land of 124, 400 sq.km and 0.31 ha agricultural land per capita (World Bank, 2017). Its main agricultural crops are rice, coconut, corn, bananas, pineapple, tabacco, abaca, sugarcane, mangoes and coffee. Philippines is also known in exporting commodities and high-value commercial crops around the world.

Currently, Philippine agriculture managed to grow by 0.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020. Crops registered a 5.0 percent (%) growth in production. It shared 53.7 percent in the total agricultural output. Production went up for palay by 7.1 percent (%), and corn by 15.4 percent (%) (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2020). However, truth to be told, Philippine agriculture faces crushing challenges and criticisms. Ironically speaking, Philippines is an agricultural country yet, those people who are entitled of feeding the country are those who experiences great hunger and poverty. This suggests the necessity to sustain food production to satisfy the basic needs of the growing population. A way to attain this is through increasing land and labor efficiency in agriculture through agricultural mechanization.

Agricultural mechanization refers to the manufacture, distribution, and utilization of tools, implements, and machines, and the provision of after-sales service for the development of farmlands, agricultural production and post- production processes (PCARRD, 2009). In other words, agricultural mechanization simple means upgrading of agricultural productivity through appropriate technologies. Its goal is to sustain agricultural production by bringing in more lands under cultivation, saving energy and resources, protecting the environment, and increasing the overall economic welfare of farmers. Moreover, its goal today is very broad that is why the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Industrial development Organization (UNIDO) concluded that the ultimate goal of agricultural mechanization is to reduce labor (Emami, 2018).

Agricultural mechanization in the Philippines had a significant growth during the era of Green revolution (PCARRD, 2009). An intensive effort on the application of agricultural mechanization in the Philippines was started after the World War II. There was then an impending food shortage all over the world.  Bringing agricultural mechanization in the country marks a lot of impacts, especially in terms of socioeconomic factors such as: labor productivity; women and family labor; and farm income.

Republic Act No. 10601, which is also known as “Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanization (AFMech) Law” – an act promoting agricultural and fisheries mechanization development in the country (Official Gazette, 2013), this law strengthened the commitment of the government to enhance the adoption and utilization of agricultural mechanization technologies to modernize the agricultural sector. Even though the Philippines has this AFMech law, the country have not been very conducive both in the local and national levels. Economic, technical, and policy factors had hindered the adoption of machines in agriculture sector. Agricultural mechanization contributes advantageous effects towards Philippine agriculture; the country is also dealing with many glitches.

There is a study entitled, “Problems and Issues Affecting Agricultural Mechanization in the Bicol Region (Philippines)”, whereas; the respondents are from Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte. The results made in this study indicates that among problems encountered in agricultural mechanization, high cost of equipment ranked first followed by high fuel cost small size of farm holdings and high repair and maintenance cost. Other problems encountered were: unavailability of machine in locality, outstanding credit in banks and unavailability of spare parts (Agricultural Mechanization Development Program, 1991). This study is anchored with the study entitled, “Sugarcane Farm Mechanization is the Solution. What are the Problems?” by Mendoza (2016), whereas it discussed four (4) interrelated problems which influence farm level implementation of mechanization as follows: (1) Financing as the improved machines are expensive; (2) Machine types suitability in relation to farm size and farm operation; (3) Machine brand/size (Hp) in relation to farm size, affordability, choice/ preference; and (4) Labor displacement/ livelihood for displaced worker.

Financing as the improved machines are expensive. It is true that farmers need to purchase and/or acquire variety of mechanized equipment and services, however, truth to be told, it is beyond the buying capacity of the utmost number of farmers. The industry must be able to come up with marketable machines, which could meet farmers’ operational needs at an affordable price. Prices of machines are expensive because they are imported. If acquired, the farmers’ tendency is to loan, there will be high principal + loan interest + imposing tax will be equated to greater burden for the farmers (Mendoza, 2016). Resulting to not acquiring mechanized machines, and will stick to museum type or old machines which are less efficient. Still, the farmers will withdraw money in using the old machines for maintenance and repair cost. Another, machines are assembly. It composed of various parts including, prime mover, tires, attachments, implements etc. Our country is not feasible and capable to manufacture those types of machine parts. But some of it can be manufactured locally like tire, chisel, platform, etc. Importing them penalizes the users as the price increased enormously. For example, 1 000 kg disc harrow set is worth Php 350, 000.00. the raw material part at Php 50/ kg is only worth Php 50, 000.00. The metal value increased seven (7) times (Mendoza, 2016).

Machine types suitability in relation to farm size and farm operation. Small farm size is a big factor in agricultural mechanization. In land preparation and harvesting operations, mechanizing small and non- contiguous parcels of land would be inefficient. There are many details to be considered in the design and manufacture of specific farm implements to suit local conditions.

Machine brand/size (Hp) in relation to farm size, affordability, choice/ preference. There are many quality brand manufacturer importing to Philippines such as Japan, US, Europe, recently China and South Korea. China is known for cheaper price products but are considered to have a low quality standards. Since, it is a budget-friendly product; most of the farmers are into it. Neglecting the time value of money or interest expense and other factors, cheaper brand dictates the farmer’s choice. One of the reasons for the proliferation of imported equipment in the Philippines is the adoption of liberal import policies and lack of import restrictions on agricultural machinery. Loosening restrictions among the government policy is deemed necessary as an action for this issue.

Labor displacements/ livelihood for displace workers. To those countries being introduced by agricultural mechanization, displacement of workers is one of the major concerns. Although farmers have a great deal of knowledge in terms of traditional methods of farming which had accumulated through experience over generations, they have relatively limited access to new knowledge. There is a high rate of illiteracy among rural farming populations; this hinders the improvement of agricultural production and productivity and of the general level of farm management. Farmers lack of knowledge and skills to operate and mechanized equipment leads to labor displacement.

Developing the agricultural economy through appropriate and efficient machineries covering all types of crops and animal production necessitates addressing specific problems abovementioned. It would be unrealistic to attempt specific recommendations to developing countries on what their mechanization strategy should be situations within and between countries are much too diverse. Nonetheless, there are a number of issues which experience has shown to be common to most developing countries, and which require policy or strategy decisions to establish an appropriate framework for mechanization development and support. Here are some of the recommendations for mechanization strategy: the most suitable type, level and role of mechanization in agriculture is determined by the farming situation (including social and political factors) which is specific to individual towns, villages, regions, areas, sectors or conditions within a country; capital investment in mechanization (of an types and levels) should be conditional on measures to ensure levels of utilization and efficiency that are economically sound; agricultural machinery should be manufactured locally to meet local market demands in conformity with a realistic appraisal of technical and financial capabilities; Importation of machinery, spares and supplies for agricultural mechanization should be systematically organized in accordance with foreign exchange priorities, on the basis of technical evaluation and with clear lines of authority and responsibility for importation and distribution;  it should be recognized that while credit is an instrument of policy, the purpose for which it is used are policy issues. Measures should be taken, therefore, to ensure that credit use is aimed at achievement of specific goals within the broad aims of national policy; to ensure that mechanization contributes to agricultural development, measures both long and short-term, must be taken to train farmers and government support staff in management and technical skills; Support for the development and extension of mechanization should be within the overall effort to improve farming systems. Mechanization is only one element in those systems and should not be considered in isolation; and regulations and amounts of taxes and tariffs, as applicable to agricultural machinery, should clearly reflect the government's desire to either encourage or discourage mechanization (Gifford, 1981).

Nonetheless, mechanization at all levels is a reality that exists and cannot be ignored. It seems inevitable that higher levels of mechanization will become increasingly important in the development process in most countries. Furthermore, mechanization will probably have greater and more far-reaching effects on development in the future than it has in the past. It is essential, therefore, that agricultural mechanization is considered as a process which must be carefully planned and carried out in all developing countries. Failure in this regard is likely to be unacceptably costly in terms of money and time, and will not allow mechanization to make the contribution to increased agricultural productivity and reduction of rural poverty for which it is capable.

References:

Agricultural Mechanization Development Program. (1991). Problems and issues affecting agricultural mechanization in the Bicol Region [Philippines].

Emami, M. A. (2018, March 23). Agriculture & Food Security. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from BMC Part of Springer Nature: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-018-0176-2

Gifford, R. (1981). Agricultural Mechanization in Development: Guidelines for Strategy Formulation. Rome: FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin.

Mendoza, T. P. (2016). Sugarcane Farm Mechanization is the Solutio. What are the Problems? Journal of Agricultural Technology, 12(6), 1167-1169.

Official Gazette. (2013, June 5). Official Gazette. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from GOV.PH: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/06/05/republic-act-no-10601/

PCARRD. (2009). Agricultural Mechanization in the Philippines. In D. A. Suministrado (Ed.), Agricultural Mechanization in the Philippines (1st ed., p. 14). Los, Banos, Laguna, Philippines: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development.

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2020). Performance of Philippine Agriculture. Department of Agriculture. PSA Complex, East Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority.

World Bank. (2017). The World Bank Group. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS?locations=PH