After Typhoon Odette left multi-billion-peso damages in agriculture and infrastructure, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) distributed Php83.8M worth of machinery to farmers cooperatives and associations (FCAs) in Narra, Palawan on January 18, 2022.

A total of 84 units of machines were given to 39 qualified rice-based FCAs in the province under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Mechanization Program. These include four-wheel-drive tractors, hand tractors, floating tillers, PTO-driven disc plow/harrow, walk-behind transplanter, riding type transplanter, rice combine harvester, rice thresher, flatbed dryer, recirculating dryer, and multi-stage rice mill.

Despite the surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country, the PHilMech in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office MIMAROPA pursued the provincial-wide distribution.

These machinery grants were procured under the 2021 funds of the RCEF Mechanization Program. RCEF was funded through the RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law principally authored by Senator Cynthia A. Villar which aims to help Filipino rice farmers become competitive.