The agriculture industry is one of the backbones of the Philippine economy. It serves as the major source of income for Filipino farmers and fisherfolk. However, the industry is handicapped with lack of appropriate and mechanized technologies.

Thus, the Department of Agriculture (DA) promotes the agriculture and fisheries mechanization program. The technologies being promoted for commercialization are expected to reach the marketplace as they have proven to address specific needs in the agriculture sector.

Modernizing the agri-fishery sector through commercialization of various technologies will boost the incomes of farmers and fisherfolk and ensure the accessibility, availability and stability of food supply at all times.

The National Technology Commercialization Program (NTCP) being managed and coordinated by DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) aims to highlight agricultural and fishery mechanization related research and development breakthroughs in the country which can contribute in agricultural modernization and community development.

Under the program, three national research and development (R&D) agencies which include the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) will implement the project `Intensifying the Technology Utilization and Commercialization of Agriculture and Fishery Mechanization for Sustainable Development.`

BPRE spearheads the implementation of the program which encompasses three different projects or mature technologies developed by engineers from BPRE, FIDA and PhilRice.

These agencies are working to commercialize equipment which include the PhilRice combine harvester, the FIDA mobile spindle stripping machine, FIDA multi-fiber decorticating machine, and the BPRE rice hull-fed furnaces.

At present, efforts are now being undertaken to establish pilot demonstration sites for each technology to showcase the benefits derived from these R&D results.

The PhilRice will establish a demonstration site in Nueva Ecija, one of the major rice producing provinces in the country to showcase the PhilRice B&S Combine Harvester.

The PhilRice combine harvester is a 4-in-1 machine. It performs harvesting, gathering, threshing and bagging operations at the same time.It has two designs, a 1.3 meter model which can harvests a hectare in one day, and a 1.7 meter model which can harvests 1.5 hectares a day.

On the other hand, FIDA will be setting up demonstration sites for fiber extraction machines in Visayas and Mindanao where good source of high quality fiber-producing plants like abaca and maguey can be found and where manual stripping of fiber still prevails.

The FIDA mobile spindle stripping machine can strip 80 to 100 kg of abaca a day with a fiber recovery of 1.52 to 2.3 percent. It has an excellent to good cleaning of fibers and can extract good quality abaca fiber because it is safe and easy to operate.

The FIDA multi-fiber decorticating machine can be used on abaca, maguey, pineapple, and banana with a capacity per hour of 10 kg, 7 kg, 1.5 kg., and 3 kg, respectively.

Meanwhile, the BPRE will establish its BPRE biomass-fed furnaces. It will be situated in Isabela, a major producer of rice and corn. Both the rice hull and corn cob can be used as fuel.

The technology was designed to solve the problems of current furnace designs of dryers. The furnace system has automatic feeding of rice hull and removal of rice hull ash to facilitate continuous and uniform combustion. This enables the furnace to operate with minimal manual attention, thereby minimizing the operator's exposure to harmful dusts, heat and fumes.

It is being retrofitted to match the requirements of re-circulating mechanical dryers initially for rice and eventually for other grains.

The NTCP is in support to the provisions of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997. The program envisions to boost the productivity and profitability of agriculture and fisheries sector.

The specific objectives of the program are: to determine the extent of application and utilization of developed agriculture and fishery machines and small farm implements; to encourage and establish partnerships among and between key players and stakeholders of the agriculture and fishery mechanization program; and to commercialize the different agriculture and fishery machinery for sustainable development.

With these technologies, it is expected that the promotion, utilization, application and commercialization activities will fully utilize the R&D results of various agencies.

This undertaking creates awareness among stakeholders, accredit manufacturers, fabricate the prototype units for promotion and document the commercialization processes of the three projects. Furthermore, this program encourages and establishes partnerships among the key players and stakeholders in achieving agricultural modernization and rural development.