Industry Situationer
Agricultural Engineering: Transformers of modern day agriculture
by Ellaine Grace L. Nagpala
Photos from BAR album
April-June 2007
Volume 9 Issue No. 2
PHOTOS FROM BAR ALBUM
Long time ago, when the cropping season for rice arrives, the sight of a carabao pulling a moldboard plow in a rice paddy field becomes a familiar scenario. Using the carabao as a draft, the farmer patiently guides the animal as it cultivates his field to have it ready for the sowing of rice's seeds.
Assuming that the farmer has a one hectare rice field, with his faithful carabao and plow, he can have his field plowed in an average of 44 hours, harrowed in 36 hours, leveled in 14 hours and side cultivated in 3 hours.
Land preparation is most time-consuming and energy consuming stage in rice production. But not until the tractor was invented, land preparation required a minimum amount of time and energy. Using a two-wheel tractor, plowing and harrowing a hectare of land can be finished in an average of 11.3 hours and 8.6 hours, respectively. A four-wheel tractor meanwhile requires an estimated 5.3 hours for plowing and 3.6 hour for harrowing.
The tractor is one of the first machines devised to assist the farmer perform his job with ease. In an agricultural country like the Philippines, the role of engineering is vital in mechanizing agricultural production and processing and for the effective management of natural resources.
Philippine agriculture performance
During the first semester of 2007, agriculture grew by 3.50 percent, wherein a sustained increase in the total output of agriculture in the first two quarters of the year was noted. At current prices, the gross value of agricultural production expanded by 5.19 percent to P466.7 billion from P443.6 billion for the same period last year.
The agriculture sector has a huge livelihood making potential, especially in the areas of production and by-products processing, expansion of areas for cultivation, and intensification and diversification of agricultural production systems.
Impacts of Agricultural Engineering
Agricultural engineering is manifested mainly on mechanization of farm activities, development of machines for processing agricultural products, and irrigation. Hence, the introduction of agriculturally engineered technologies that suite the local condition will enable the agriculture sector to fully utilize its products and by-products, cultivate lands on a sustainable production basis, and intensify and diversify farming systems.
This in turn can generate employment, open possible opportunities for the country in the local market, reduce postharvest losses, increase the value of a product through processing, and help bring equity in the access to basic production systems.
Agricultural mechanization status
The level of mechanization in the Philippines, in terms of available mechanical power in the farm is 0.52 hp/ha.
In the country, there are few agricultural commodities whose operations are mechanized:
The sugarcane had the highest degree of mechanization among the major agricultural crops. Large imported equipment such as four-wheel tractors, plows, semi-automatic planters, cultivators, harvesters, and mills were used making 83 percent of farm operations in sugarcane mechanized.
In rice, land preparation is mechanized through the use of power tiller. Pumps are widely used to facilitate irrigation. About 47 percent of rice produced is threshed with the power threshers while 98 percent of the rice farmers bring their palay to rice mills. There is also practically one knapsack sprayer per farmer.
In corn, only the shelling operation is at high level of mechanization.
For coconut, mechanization has taken place through the presence of oil mills, oil refineries, desiccated coconut plants, activated carbon plants, and oleochemical plants.
In fruits, mechanization for both production and processing is low, and there exists only a few number of processing equipments (hot water tank, sorting and grading machines, chippers/slicers, dryers, evaporators and retorts).
In livestock, the feed milling operation for commercial feed mills is highly mechanized with imported and locally manufactured equipment consisting of forage chopper, hammer mill, mixer and pelletizer.
In general, the level of agricultural mechanization in the country is low as compared to other countries in Asia such as Japan, Korea, China, Pakistan, and India which has a level of mechanization at 7.00, 4.11, 3.88, and 1.02 hp/ha, respectively.
Agricultural Engineering R&D
Over the years, studies conducted on the design and development of machines were focused on rice production and processing. Other research and development (R&D) efforts on benchmark surveys, piloting, packaging, and impact evaluation technologies were also limited to rice. Moreover, there were limited studies on the development of machine standards, development of low-cost construction materials, and development of equipment for energy resources utilization.
To date, Table 1 (see page 6) shows the outstanding accomplishments in the field of agricultural engineering including the local manufacture and distribution of the following: power tiller/ trailer, floating tiller, axial-flow pump, axial-flow thresher, kiskisan rice mill, cono rice mill, crushing type corn sheller, corn mill, grain moisture meter, forage chopper, hammer mill, mixer, and windmill.
Technological breakthroughs were also made in the areas of crop production crop protection, harvesting, drying, milling, shelling, irrigation, and alternative energy.
Challenges
Despite the presence of institutions that works for the advancement of R&D in agricultural engineering, there is a lack in coordination among these institutions. As identified by the Committee on Agricultural Mechanization of the National Agriculture and Fishery Council (CAM-NAFC), agricultural engineering R&D should initially address the following problems plaguing its growth: 1) lack of coordination of R&D activities among implementing agencies; 2) insufficient R&D facilities and funds; and 3) absence of extensive assessment of farmers' needs towards identification of viable and appropriate technologies.
Agricultural engineering has been developed without a clear vision of the economic and social impacts of the introduction of the technologies. In this regard, a comprehensive assessment and identification of the status, resource available, and need of agricultural engineering should be initiated at the national level to come up with a relevant approach to agricultural engineering.
At the moment, there are at three government agencies mandated to fund, coordinate, monitor and evaluate agricultural engineering R&D. These are the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), and the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development (PCIERD). There are also at least three government agencies and two state universities that implement separate agricultural engineering programs. These are the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Central Luzon State University (CLSU), and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). These institutions act separately in identifying the gaps in agricultural engineering that must be addressed. This leads to lack of consultation and therefore duplication of studies.
In order to avoid duplication of works and wastage of resources, more coordination is needed with regards to the planning and implementation of agricultural engineering in R&D. Moreover, massive demonstrations and trainings on the operation of agricultural machinery at the farmers/operator's level must also be done to provide the farmers and operators of the basic know-how's of the technologies that is introduced to them.
The absence of adequate resources and funding is another story that keeps the Philippines behind other Asian countries, not only in the area of mechanization but in the whole field of agricultural engineering. The poor profitability of agricultural machinery manufacturers in the country due to the high costs of machines, the dumping and smuggling of imported agricultural machineries, and the uncontrolled entry of second-hand engines inhibits the proliferation of agricultural engineering technologies.
Desired industry situation
It is said that the agricultural engineering is a prerequisite to and a partner of industrialization. Industrialized countries have shown that regardless of socio-economic, cultural, and environmental settings, the evolutionary patterns to their industrial development can be traced down to agricultural engineering.
In the Agricultural Engineering RDE Agenda of BAR, the motivation to promote agricultural engineering in the country is clearly expressed and emphasized and the following were deemed necessary to be considered for its fulfillment:
Implementation of a National Agriculture Engineering Program
Though the role of agricultural engineering in agricultural development is evident, there has not been any concrete set of policies that details how agricultural engineering should be pursued and applied.
Adoption of machinery pools as farmers' access to agricultural production machinery
Machines are too costly for the small farmers to afford. Moreover, because of small landholdings, the individual ownership of motorized machines is not viable. Through pooling machineries through cooperatives and custom-hire arrangements with private entrepreneurs, it would be easier for the farmers to access the machines that they need provided that their farms are integrated. These schemes are being implemented successfully in countries with small landholding such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Establishment of rural-based processing plants for generating employment,
livelihood and additional income to farmers
The reduction of postharvest losses through primary processing is viewed as ways to increase a farmer's income at the same time generate employment and livelihood in the rural sector. These is possible through local adoptation or development of processing machines and facilities.
Joint-venture arrangements for the local manufacture of critical machines and machine parts. Through this approach, foreign manufacturers and local manufacturers can set up joint venture arrangements to set up manufacturing and assembly plants in the county.
RDE agenda and programs
When the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) or the Republic Act No. 8435 was proposed, it was aimed to take immediate actions that will pursue the modernization of agriculture and fisheries sectors of the country to enhance their profitability and prepare the said sectors for globalization. As a part of the agriculture and fisheries sector, the development and promotion of appropriate agricultural machinery and other agricultural mechanization technologies to enhance agricultural mechanization in the countryside was given emphasis.
Developed breakthrough technologies in agricultural engineering through Research and Development (R&D)
Source: Agricultural Engineering RDE Agenda and Program
Consequently, the Department of Agriculture (DA) implemented the National Agri-Fishery Mechanization Program (AgFiMech) and created the National Agri-Fishery Mechanization Program Committee (CAFMech), which is the central link for coordinated planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all agricultural engineering programs, projects and activities of DA.
To be able to achieve the desired industry situation for agricultural engineering, the following were identified to be the main agenda for agricultural engineering as stipulated in the Agricultural Engineering RDE Agenda:
Strengthen the Agricultural Engineering RDE Network to tap the active participation of research institutions and the private sector;
Conduct benchmark and needs surveys, policy and feasibility studies, and impact evaluation of the Mechanization Plan;
Adapt available matured technologies from developed/developing countries to the country's own institutions/industry;
Develop medium- to large-scale and energy-efficient technologies for machinery pools and village-level processing plants;
Develop technical standards to help ensure the quality of agricultural engineering technologies;
Pilot and package agricultural engineering technologies;
Conduct training on agricultural engineering technologies for engineers, technicians, extension workers and farmers; and
Establish a centralized information service for agricultural engineering statistics and development.
The Ag Eng RDE Agenda and Programs was developed to promote appropriate agricultural engineering technologies in the countryside for enhancing agricultural productivity and agro-industrial development.
The RDE program, in general, is geared to provide accurate and timely information in support of the Agricultural Engineering Development Plan, to make available appropriate agricultural engineering technologies for the production and processing of farm products and by-products, and to develop trained manpower for the generation, manufacture and utilization of agricultural engineering technologies.
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Sources:
National Agricultural Engineering Research, Development and Extension Agenda
National Agricultural Engineering Research, Development and Extension Program
Maranan, Celerina L. Comparative Evaluation of Tractor and Carabao Use in Rice Land Preparation. Journal of Philippine Development. 1980.
<http://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/ris/pjd/pidsjpd85-1tractor.pdf>
Status of Agricultural Mechanization in the Philippines. Agricultural Machinery.
