Modern rice technology has opened a new path for 37-year-old Jayson A. Numos of Barangay Duplas, San Juan, La Union. Once unsure about entering farming, he is now a registered farmer and a confident operator of a mechanical transplanter after seeing its benefits firsthand through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed Program.
Numos’ interest grew during the Ceremonial Crop Establishment of the 50-ha PalaySikatan techno demo in their barangay. Watching the mechanical transplanter work with speed and precision convinced him that farming could be easier and more productive.
“Using the mechanical transplanter, I saw how fast and orderly the planting was, compared to manual planting. It is easier, faster, and rice plants even grow better,” he said.
Before shifting to mechanization, he spent PhP8,000 to PhP9,000 per hectare on seedling pulling and manual transplanting. With the mechanical transplanter provided by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and available for free use, his expenses dropped to PhP400 per hectare, mostly for fuel.
“Now that I know how to operate the machine, I no longer need to hire extra labor. The work gets done faster and at much lower cost,” he shared. Numos also noticed more uniform planting and improved yields in his field.
Growing up with traditional farming, he once thought the work would be physically demanding. But the technologies introduced through PalaySikatan changed his perspective.
“It’s nice to think farming can be made more modern. It does not always have to be full of hardships,” he added.
PalaySikatan, a techno demo under the RCEF Seed Program implemented by DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Ilocos Norte, together with the Provincial Government of La Union and the San Juan local government unit, promotes certified inbred seeds, the PalayCheck System, and mechanized farming operations.
Barangay Duplas, San Juan, serves as a demonstration site of the RCEF Seed Program for the 2025 wet and 2026 dry seasons, offering farmers in Region I a learning venue for improved rice production.
For Numos, the program did more than introduce a machine—it gave him the encouragement and confidence to pursue farming, reduce his costs, and achieve better harvests.
