Rice farmers have to reduce their production cost to retain their profits. In irrigated areas of Nueva Ecija alone, labor is at 35% of the total production costs. The most costly farm activities are crop establishment, harvesting, and threshing. Adopting strategies such as direct seeding and the use of combine harvester can significantly reduce production cost at the farm level.

Transplanting requires 25 man-days (1 man-day = 8 hours of work) at P4.42/kg, while direct seeding only utilizes 2 man-days per hectare at P3.28/kg cost. Adopting direct seeding can reduce labor cost by P1.14/kg.

Harvesting is mostly done manually while threshing is mechanized using an axial-flow thresher, both needing a total of 21 man-days per hectare. Manual harvesting costs 10% of harvest; axial-flow thresher earns 7% of harvest. The total cost of these is at P2.95/kg. On the other hand, a combine harvester can harvest and thresh paddy in a single passing, needing less than 2 man-days. Combine harvester costs only 8% of output (P1.39/kg), which is P1.56/kg less. (PhilRice: Rice Science for Decision Makers)

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