Rice farmers in Bagumba, Midsayap, North Cotabato are still in high spirits with the recent turned-over by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of a P1.9 million rice harvesting machine that would boost their agricultural productivity.
The provision of the 88-horsepower rice combine harvester with trailer to Bagumba agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organization (BARBO) is in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., through DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III to help improve the livelihood activities in the countryside.
Livelyn Guillermo, BARBO President, said the rice harvester is a big blessing to them because it addresses the recurring problem of scarcity of labor or a limited number of available mechanized rice harvesters during harvest time.
“We were spending P8,000.00 per hectare on labor in manual harvesting while 10% of the total number of sacks were deducted from renting rice harvesters to private individuals in the area,” she said.
Guillermo divulged that due to the large areas served by the privately-owned rice harvesters, they remain helpless and have to patiently wait for their turn, which oftentimes results in losses and a reduction to supposed additional income for the family.
“Now that we are going to mechanize our harvesting activity, the 161 members of our organization will directly benefit from the project serving more or less 380 hectares of rice areas in our barangay, while a combined area of more than 1,000 hectares in the adjacent barangays will also benefit from the machine,” she added.
The project is implemented under the DAR’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support Program, which aims to enhance and sustain the agricultural productivity of agrarian reform communities as an adaptation measure towards climate change resiliency.
Evangeline Bueno, North Cotabato Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II, said the farmers in the area would no longer worry about harvest losses due to the delays in harvesting their crop and it would also make them become more resilient and adaptive to the effects of climate change as far as rice farming is concerned.
“As the rice harvester addresses the shortage of labor during harvest season, this would generate more income for the recipient organization, and generate more savings from harvesting costs for the members,” she said.
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