News

TECH SPACE : Smart farming comes to town

Sunday, March 31, 2019 12:00 AM    Views : 371by:TONY M. MAGHIRANG

A kind of digital transformation is making inroads into the Philippine agriculture sector. On surface, it appears to be the application of “artificial intelligence,” no pun intended, to Filipino farmers who are generally viewed as one of the poorest, most exploited but among the hardest working citizens in a supposedly growing national economy.

A typical farmer is 58 years old, lives in a rural community and earns about $50 a month to feed a family of five members. He does not own the land he tills from sunup to sundown.

Today’s farmer may also be the last of a dying breed. Enrollment in agricultural schools is reportedly at an all-time low and with free college education, farming parents, other than traders and their ilk, will work harder to give their children that big break at a white collar job in the city or abroad. There are even stories that some Filipino farmers have chosen to go to other countries like Japan where their age-old homegrown skills are better appreciated.

This state of affairs is usually attributed to lack of support but the Department of Agriculture (DA), for example, has always been allocating its multi-billion peso annual budget in training, extension work, farm improvement and mechanization and related services that should redound to enhanced farm productivity and higher farmer incomes. On the heels of the latest round of rice industry debacles, the agency renewed its scientific and technical partnership with the International Rice Research Institute to address the continuing challenges posed by climate change and food security to the sector.

To also help reduce endemic poverty in farming communities, a host of responses anchored on new technologies is being launched under the banner of smart farming. Innovations in fintech or financial technology such as e-wallets and blockchain are expected to facilitate the financial inclusion of sectors including farmers currently underserved by banking institutions. The basic idea is for the tillers to gain access to time-sensitive loans and slowly transform them into enterprising individuals.

Not to denigrate the Filipino farmers but many of them have only primary school education and it may take some time for them to understand new technology, let alone get weaned from technological and financial bondage with their favorite middleman, or landlord for that matter. Borrowing and probably entrepreneurship may be for their skilled sons and daughters, who may not be taking up their father’s laborious legacy any day soon.

So far, the biggest and most promising breakthrough is the establishment of a Smart Plant Production in Controlled Environments (Spice) project at University of the Philippines campus in Diliman. Supported by the DoST, the university’s Institute of Biology and the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute are building a P128 million nursery of endemic and indigenous plants.

The smart farm, which started construction last year, will promote the adoption of advanced farming methods to increase harvests and minimize losses. It is also being seen as a model for urban farming and a platform for plant conservation.

It’s definitely a worthwhile undertaking but here’s the thing. Promotions-wise, where does the project stand in relation to UP Los Baños being the foremost and well-recognized seat of agricultural advancement in the country? Likewise, will there be a cooperative link with similar initiatives such as the smart greenhouses being propagated by DA with South Korea?

And sure, we get it, urban farming at a crucial time when it’s the rural stakeholders who need all the help they can get.

Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/smart-farming-comes-to-town/533398/

S & T Trivia

" Dr. Nic Liquido pioneered the research on light-activated dyes that control many fruit flies. He is a University of the Philippines (UP) alumnus and former lab director of the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Research Service. "

Online Resources
© copyright 2012 www.science.ph. All rights reserved.

Login