Farmers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) stand to gain as much as P300 million worth of farm machinery rolled out under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) 2.0–Mechanization Program.

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) on Friday described the turnover, which was held at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City, as the biggest single-day distribution of equipment under the RCEF mechanization initiative.

Realizing the long-time dream of people in Mindanao

PHilMech director IV Dionisio Alvindia, PhD, said the allocation “will help realize the long-time dream of people in Mindanao, most especially Muslims, to make the island the food basket of the Philippines.”

Machinery spanning entire rice value chain

He added that the package of machines spans the entire rice value chain.

“We at PHilMech share the dreams of the people of Mindanao to make the island a major food producer, including rice. The machines PHilMech distributed cover the entire process of rice cultivation, from land preparation to milling. This will capacitate the beneficiaries to also retail their own rice, as they were also given milling machines,” Alvindia said.

The turnover included 39 four-wheel-drive tractors, three precision rice seeders, 43 rice combine harvesters, 10 grain-drying equipment, and 28 village-type rice mills, all awarded to BARMM farmer-beneficiaries.

RCEF 2.0 ensures P9 billion in annual mechanization funding starting 2025 for another six years, higher than the P5 billion per year allocated under the first phase from 2019 to 2024.