Land consideration: a giant step towards agricultural modernization through efficient mechanization

In the Philippines, corn farmland clustering, which is a prelude to land consolidation, is now being recognized as a strategy for efficient corn mechanization. The initiatives of both the private and the government sectors on machinery custom services led to the realization of addressing the important components of land consolidation, including 1.) large-sized and regularly shaped fields, 2.) access roads, 3.) irrigation and drainage systems, and 4.) postharvest facilities. The Department of Agriculture in Region 2 [Cagayan Valley, Philippines] initiated the clustering projects for corn, a step forward full-scale land consolidation under the Philippine setting. Clustering involves the removal of fences and other obstructions along farm property boundaries to form antiguous farm areas that will increase the efficiency of operation of large machines for synchronized land preparation, planting, and harvesting; minimize turns at headlands and other interruptions; and reduce energy inputs. It also provides the environment to adopt future high-technology initiatives, like precision agriculture, automation, environment protection, and organic farming that will further increase competitiveness. Private-led custom services and clustering have been initiated in Quirino and Isabela provinces. In both areas, custom hiring services for corn production operations, like land preparation, planting, fertilizer application, and harvesting are already established. In Pangasinan, custom services for corn harvesting is gaining wide acceptance and in much demand by farmers. These efforts show great potential of increasing farm production, reducing production costs and crop losses, and improving the overall land and labor productivity. During the early 1970s, the Department of Agrarian Reform, with assistance from the USAID, developed two rice haciendas in Camarines Sur by providing irrigation, drainage, and road facilities as well as land forming. However, the field lots did not significantly increase in size or shaped into long rectangular plots for efficient mechanization. This paper gives the concept and potentials of land consolidation for corn farms as related to farm mechanization and modernization. The author concludes that modernizing agriculture through mechanization at this time should not be hindered by concerns, as in the past, that impact landless laborers. Instead, a separate development and training program of gainful employment for them, domestic (e.g. jobs in agro-industries) and abroad (e.g. OFW as skilled farmhands and farm assistants), should be formulated to enable farmers have their own development track. By this more positive manner, this strategy will be more effective in alleviating poverty in the countryside