Rice farmers get P400M worth of agri machinery

MANILA  -The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) distributed P398.54 million worth of farm machines in Nueva Ecija, among the leading producers of rice.

In a statement, PHilMech said 125 units of various farm machines were given to 88 qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) and the local government units (LGU) in the province.

Beneficiaries received five four-wheel tractors, 22 hand tractors, nine walk-behind transplanters, 21 riding type transplanters, four precision seeders, 22 rice combine harvesters, nine single-pass rice mills, 13 six-ton recirculating dryers, 13 12-ton recirculating dryers, four 1.5-ton per hour (tph) multi-stage rice mills, two 2-3 tph multi-stage rice mills and one 4-5 tph multi-stage rice mills.

“The postharvest facilities, or the recirculating dryers and the multi-stage rice mills, are currently being delivered and installed at the project site of the beneficiaries,” PHilMech said.

PHilMech director Dionisio Alvindia said the biggest single-day distribution of farm machines would significantly help domestic production.

“As we all know, Nueva Ecija is the top producer of palay in the country, and by strengthening its palay output, the country can have more supplies of the staple and lessen the need for imports,” Alvindia said.

PHilMech said P1.49 billion in farm machines have been given to several FCAs and LGUs in Nueva Ecija since 2019: P194.7 million in 2019; P302.5 million in 2020; P364.9 million in 2021; P231.1 million in 2022 and P398.5 million in 2023.

It said a total of 935 units of various rice machinery and equipment were distributed at no cost to 444 FCAs and LGUs in the province between 2019 and 2023. —Jordeene B. Lagare INQ