What’s on a Friday that one can talk about Development ? It’s PhilRice PalayCheck Field School (PFS), an opportunity to make exchanges with the country’s so-called backbone of the nation - the farmers.
Today, this blogger in his capacity as PRRI consultant, got another chance to discuss with some 20 rice farmers in Brgy. Caanawan, San Jose City (NEcija), the idea of modernizing Philippine agriculture, which remains an elusive dream so far for this agricultural nation. As he observed and looked at the PFS participants and facilitators doing hands-on exercises on transplanting and peripheral activities, like seedling-pulling, transport and distribution/scattering, this blogger can’t help but sing in his mind that folksong, “magtanim ay di biro. . .”, for the activity (transplanting) is really not fun afterall.
While PhilRice is doing its best to attain agri-modernization, there are still many social preparations that the rural sector should make. For instance, in mechanizing farm operations to alleviate drudgery in farming, we are not ready yet to leave manual labor (because of labor displacement issue), nor we are willing to convert our fragmented farms into one contiguous area required of efficient use of agri-machineries. Thus, we can’t help but just wait for that time when our farming system favors farm mechanization? This blogger can’t help but just narrate with hopes that modernization comes of our age, the mechanization experience of China, where he had the chance to work with via the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT), a bilateral program between the 2 countries.
On government intervention in farm mechanization, I ask myself which farm operations should we prioritize? Mother unit (Dept of Agriculture) in recent years was so aggressive in distributing mechanical dryers via PHilMech (former BPRE). Is it really the proper priority? How about mechanical transplanter or harvester? In one survey, farmers considered Engine as their top priority in the farms. It was because it has many uses, which can be applied/hitched with tractor, irrigation pump, trailer, thresher and what have we. May be this is the time to ask them anew.
Meanwhile, PFS participants appreciated PhilRice’s program of increasing rice productivity through PalayCheck extension-education and promotion. While they admitted its not easy to bid goodbye to traditional farming and indigenous knowledge inherited from forefathers, the progressive farmers of Caanawan pledge to be as innovative as possible if only to alleviate rural poverty while attaining rice sufficiency. (JSF Blogs)
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