CHAPTER 2-Unit 1
AG ENG’G 1: Basic Farm Machineries and Mechanization
and Water Management
Chapter 2: Mechanization and Legislations of Philippine Agriculture
and Fishery Sector
Unit 1 Introduction to Mechanization
1.1 Local Legislation for Agriculture Modernization
1.2 Philippine Mechanization Status
Objectives:
By the end of Unit 1, students are expected to:
1. Explain the importance and role of
mechanization; and
2. Understand the mechanization status of the
Philippines.
Introduction to 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.
- it includes the use of human, animal,
mechanical, and natural sources of power, Image Source: https://steemit.com/farms/@iboiosi/problems-and-prospects-
and non-conventional sources of energy. of-farm-mechanization
The goal of agricultural mechanization is to sustain
agricultural production by:
1) bringing in more lands under cultivation;
2) saving energy and resources;
3) protecting the environment; and
4) increasing the overall economic welfare of farmers.
❖ Machines and equipment are major inputs to agriculture along with good seeds
and other cultural management practices.
❖ The use and application of these inputs to farm production is one way of
maximizing farm production and profit.
❖ Machines help address labor shortage during the peak of land preparation and
harvesting.
❖ By mechanizing selected farm operations like land preparation, family labor
mostly employed in most farms in the country may engage in other income-
generating activities on-and-off farm.
Agricultural machines help
increase crop yield through the ff:
a) better soil preparation;
b) better irrigation;
c) crop protection;
d) proper fertilizer management;
and
e) reduced postharvest losses
Importance of Mechanization
✓ Increase in volume of production
- Farm mechanization has helped in
increasing the volume of agricultural production.
✓ Encourages multiple cropping
- Farm mechanization encourages multiple
cropping which was not possible under traditional
farming.
✓ Reduces dependence upon animal power
- Farm mechanization reduces dependence
upon animal power which is costly and also slow in
operation.
✓ Diversion of land from growing fodder
- Farm mechanization makes it possible to divert the land
used for growing fodder for animal power. The same land
can be brought under cultivation for growing food and
non-food crops.
✓ Greater area under cultivation
- Farm mechanization saves labor, makes the job for
leveling and preparation of land easy and helps in
bringing more land under cultivation.
✓ Increase in labor productivity
- Farm mechanization increases efficiency of
farmers and raises the output per worker.
✓ Timely water supply, spray, etc.
- The timely availability of water supply from tube wells, the use of
new package of modern inputs has been made possible only with
the help of mechanization. The use of modern inputs increased the
yield of crops.
✓ Reduction of Cost
- Due to efficient use of resources, through the mechanized
farming the cost of production of various crops goes down.
✓ Increase in income
- Mechanization helps in increasing income of farmers by
minimizing pre- and post-harvest losses.
✓ Provides off farm employment
-provides off farm employment to the
population living in rural areas.
Share of households in different off-farm
employment activities
✓ Self-sufficiency in food
- Mechanization of agriculture
helps in achieving self-sufficiency and
surpluses in food and other crops.
The operations of farming for which machines are used are diverse.
For crop production, they include the ff:
▪ handling of residues from previous crops; ▪ pest control;
▪ primary and secondary tillage of the soil; ▪ harvesting;
▪ fertilizer distribution and application; ▪ transportation;
▪ seeding, planting, and transplanting; ▪ storage;
▪ cultivation; ▪ premarketing processing;
▪ drainage;
(https://www.britannica.com/technology/farm-machinery)
▪ irrigation and erosion control; and
▪ water conservation.
1) Timeliness of operation
2) Precision of operation
BENEFITS OF FARM 3) Improvement of work environment
MECHANIZATION:
4) Enhancement of safety
5) Reduction of drudgery of labour
6) Reduction of loss of crops and food products
7) Increased productivity of land
BENEFITS OF FARM
8) Increased economic return to farmers
MECHANIZATION:
9) Improved dignity of farmers
10) Progress and prosperity in rural areas
1. 1 Local legislation for Agriculture Mechanization
1. AFMA (Agriculture and Fishery Modernization Act) of 1998.
Republic Act 8435 or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997
simply known as AFMA, was enacted on December 22, 1997.
➢ a policy instrument defining measures to modernize Philippine
agriculture for the country to compete in the global market.
2. Agricultural Engineering Law 1998.
-An Act regulating the practice of
Agricultural Engineering in the
Philippines.
3. AFMech Law (Agricultural and Fishery Mechanization Law) of 2013.
Republic Act 10601 also known as the Agricultural and Fisheries
Mechanization Law of 2013 (AFMech Law) has strengthened the
commitment of the government to enhance the adoption and utilization
of agricultural mechanization technologies to modernize the agricultural
sector and to be at par with the ASEAN neighbors.
1.2 Status of Agricultural Mechanization in the Philippines
❑ Before 1521 (Pre-Spanish Era)
✓ Blacksmithing and metalworking technologies, probably acquired
from Chinese traders, are used for making weapons, household
metal wares, hand tools and paraphernalia for fishing and
rudimentary agriculture;
✓ Inhabitants thrive on hunting, fishing and little agriculture; natural
resources are abundant and more than enough for a small
population of tribes sparsely distributed throughout the
archipelago;
✓ Ifugao rice terraces in the mountains of Luzon and cultivation
techniques have already been well-developed and sustained
through the culture of the Indigenous People since about 2,000
years ago.
❑ 1521-1898 (Spanish Colonial Regime)
Spaniards introduced the ff:
• single animal-drawn wooden plow with cast-iron plowshare
and moldboard
• carabao (water buffalo)-drawn carts for agricultural
produce transport
• horse-drawn calesas (carriage) for personnel transport
• processing technologies such as for making chocolate
tablets from cacao
• concrete and wood construction technologies for
structures such as churches and public buildings
• blacksmithing such as for horses a cart and carriage
wheels, hand tools and plow accessories
❑ 1902-1940 (American Colonial Regime)
✓ US military and investors first used three-wheel
tractors in abaca (banana fiber crop)
plantations in Mindanao to produce cordage for
maritime usage and for export;
✓ US mechanization technologies transferred to
Philippines such as the tractor-powered
stationary rice thresher - the "McCormick"
thresher or "trilladora".
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
Award-winning author and director
of Global Food Lead Brenda
Schoepp once said:
“My grandfather used to say that once in
your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a
policeman and a preacher. But every day,
three times a day, you need a farmer.”
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
American lawyer and
statesman Daniel Webster
also said,
“When tillage begins, other
arts follow. The farmers,
therefore, are the founders of
human civilization.”
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
Two American presidents hailed farming.
“Agriculture is the most
healthful, most useful and most
noble employment of man,” said
George Washington.
To which Thomas Jefferson added, “Agriculture is our
wisest pursuit, because it will, in the end,
contribute most to real wealth, good morals and
happiness.”
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
In the Philippines, agriculture is an important part of the economy, with crops like rice, coconut,
banana, and sugar dominating the production of crops and exports.
According to the World Bank, agriculture employs 23% of the country’s workforce
as of 2021.
Unfortunately, agriculture seems not to be moving forward as expected. One reason is that
most Filipino farmers are still not using farm machineries to make it more
competitive.
“We have yet to mechanize Philippine agriculture, at a level of at least four
horsepower (hp) per hectare (ha), and be at par with our ASEAN
counterparts,” said William D. Dar when he was the secretary of the Department of
Agriculture (DA).
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
Studies conducted by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and
Mechanization (PHilMech) – the center of mechanization in the agriculture sector –
show the country’s level of mechanization is:
▪ 1.23 hp/ha for all crops
▪ 2.31 hp/ha for rice in all provinces
▪ 3 hp/ha in major rice-producing provinces like Isabela and
Nueva Ecija
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
Unfortunately, the Philippines is still classified at a low-
mechanization level.
There are several reasons for this:
1) low buying power of farmers;
2) abundance of rural labor;
3) very small landholdings per farmer;
4) high cost of machines; and
5) government policies not favorable to mechanization of agriculture.
Why today’s farmers need to mechanize
by Henrylito D. Tacio – Philippine Morning Post (August 16, 2022)
“Promoting farm mechanization in the
Philippines has also been
constrained by small-sized,
unaccessible rice fields
especially during the rainy
season, irregular, and non
geometric-shaped farm areas,”
Bautista and his co-authors wrote in
their paper entitled “Farmer’s
perception on farm mechanization and land
reformation in the Philippines.”
“Mechanizing these lands can be inefficient due to
too much maneuvering in operations like land
preparation and harvesting,” they added. “The use of
machinery and other large-scale agricultural
practices is hampered.”
Modern farm machinery has
upgraded the agricultural
industry for the best.
In using the rice
combine harvester,
for instance, a farmer
can harvest and
thresh 3-5 hectares of
land in a day.
“Traditional/manual harvesting will take you 15-20 man-days
per hectare, excluding the threshing operation,” said Jett Molech G.
Subaba, supervising science research specialist of the PHilMech’s Applied
Communication Division. “ That is how beneficial mechanization
is.”
That’s only in harvesting. Another farm activity that
takes so much labor is planting.
In Laur, Nueva Ecija, manual planting of rice usually takes five days to finish.
But when a farmer uses a mechanical transplanter, it will take
him only two days to finish planting a 6-hectare farm.
Level and % of mechanization in rice production system in Philippines
Number of available machines for rice production
PH rice farm mechanization remains slow
By: Jordeene B. Lagare - @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 09:02 AM June 19, 2023
❑The country’s rice farms have seen little improvement in the use of
machinery and equipment even if the government poured in
billions of pesos for farm mechanization in previous years.
❑The farm mechanization level of rice farms in the
Philippines stood at 2.68 horsepower per hectare (hp/ha)
in 2022 compared with 2.31 hp/ha in 2013, the Philippine
Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization
(PHilMech) reported.
❑ Cagayan Valley recorded the highest
mechanization level at 3.51 hp/ha while the
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao had the lowest level of 0.93
hp/ha.
In other regions, the farm mechanization level in terms
of hp/ha were as follows:
• Cordillera Administrative Region - 2.35;
• Ilocos Region- 3.09;
• Central Luzon- 2.62; • Eastern Visayas -2.41;
• Calabarzon- 3.36; • Zamboanga Peninsula-1.59;
• Mimaropa - 2.22; • Northern Mindanao- 2.3;
• Bicol Region- 2.98; • Davao Region-2.59;
• Western Visayas -2.76; • Soccsksargen -1.72; and
• Central Visayas -3.02; • Caraga Administrative Region-1.65
Ag Eng’g 1- Basic Farm Machineries and Mechanization and Water Management
Laboratory Activity No. 3- AFMECH LAW
I. INTRODUCTION
Make your own introduction. This should be related to the title and/or objectives of this laboratory exercise.
II. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the activity, the students are expected to:
1. To familiarize themselves with the AFMech Law; and
2. To identify which of the sections of the law are being implemented in their community and which are not.
III. MATERIALS
Survey materials or questionnaires, internet resources, devices (i.e., cellphone, laptop, etc.), social media
platforms (i.e., Facebook, twitter, etc.), and appropriate references (book, journal, e-book, e-journal etc.).
IV. PROCEDURE
• Read the AFMech Law.
• Identify 3 sections of the law that you think is being implemented in your community. Provide explanations.
• Identify 3 sections of the law that you think is not being implemented in your community. Provide
explanations.
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Present the results of your laboratory exercise and discuss it clearly.
Note: Provide pictures/photos with proper labeling to support your discussion or you can attach
pictures/photos as an APPENDIX Figures, but be sure that you have cited the Figures in your discussions.
VI. CONCLUSION
Your conclusion should be based from the contents of your lab exercise. You may include your learnings and
realization in doing this exercise.
VII. REFERENCE(S)
References should be at least from year 2010 to 2022. Use APA format in citing your references.
