LOS ANGELES, Butuan City – Twenty-nine farm operators and two Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) joined the Training on Rice Machinery Operations: Focus on Mechanical Transplanter and Double Mulching Technique from October 16-19, 2018 at the Agricultural Training Institute – Regional Training Center XIII (ATI-Caraga).

As a backgrounder, the Philippines is the most expensive in terms of production cost. To produce one kilogram of rice in the country, you will need more than 12 pesos while other Asian countries need only around five pesos. This scenario is one of the reasons why the sector of agriculture in this country is poor. Moreover, 35-40% of rice production cost goes to labor, this is why the Philippines’ cost of milled rice remains high compared to its neighboring countries. Accordingly, it is during crop establishment and harvesting where labor cost spike. Thus, this training was proposed and implemented to solve this dilemma in agriculture. This training is a collaboration with PhilRice-Agusan, DA-RAED, DA-Rice Program, and CLSU-PhilSCAT.

A mechanical transplanter was given by DA-RFO 13 to the farm operators. It has been programmed that all farmers who benefited from the government mechanization program especially for the rice transplanter shall undergo training from ATI in order to sustain the machine operationality.

This undertaking is part of the mechanization program of the Department of Agriculture. It hopes to address issues concerning the proper utilization of the mechanical rice transplanter and to further enhance Caraga region’s mechanization level.