Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas – The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will pilot a $200,000 (around P11.33 million) program to help rice farmers learn how to undertake sustainable mechanization business such as hire services and machinery repair to improve their income.

FAO has launched the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Agribusiness Development Along the Value Chain through Farmer Field Schools (SAM-ADVC-FFS) in the country, funded under the FAO’s Global Innovation Challenge.

The Philippines is only one of three countries that received grants from the FAO Global Innovation Challenge earlier this year.

The program seeks to integrate SAM into the PalayCheck System developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute. The initiative, the FOA said, builds on the mechanization gains in the rice sector through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program.

While the Philippines enjoys increased agricultural mechanization through the RCEF program, there remains a gap in its sustainability, the FAO said.

This is why the intervention focuses on adding sustainable agricultural mechanization into the curricula of existing farmer field schools on rice production systems, empowering farmers to transform mechanization into sustainable business, the FAO added.

FAO said farmers, particularly women and youth, would learn how to create agri-mechanization enterprises and contribute to local economies specific to the needs of their communities through the project.

The enterprises may include mechanization hire services, machinery repair and off-season transport of agricultural goods. The additional business operations allow farmers to capitalize on their farm machinery investment instead of just using them during specific farming seasons.

FAO said the initiative is aligned with the country’s bid to boost incomes and strengthen the enabling environment for the country’s agricultural sector.

It is a collaborative milestone where we align national leadership, local realities and global experience to develop a context-specific, farmer-centered curriculum that integrates sustainable agricultural mechanization and agribusiness into the Farmer Field School approach, said Lionel Dabbadie, FAO representative in the Philippines.

Through the FFS platform, farmers are encouraged to take ownership of and actively participate in the initiative.

FAO said it aims to improve productivity, efficiency, income and resilience of small-scale producers. The program also has the potential to scale up government interventions for rural development.

FAO is set to pilot the participatory and stakeholder-oriented integration of farm machinery operation, management, and enterprise development using opportunities for income diversification from mechanization within current rice production systems.

The onion-after-rice SAM-ADVC-FFS will roll out in Laur, Nueva Ecija while the corn-after-rice SAM-ADVC-FFS will be piloted in San Mariano, Isabela.

Published Date: June 27, 2025