CROPS MONITORED FROM THE SKY
ONE EXAMPLE of Smart Agriculture is being able to monitor conditions of farms and crops from the sky. This is possible with what is called SEAMS or SARAI-Enhanced Agricultural Monitoring System that uses satellite images to monitor and give near real-time updates of rice and corn fields. Through this, farmers can assess the vulnerability of their crops, observe weather conditions even in places without any weather stations, identify possible breeding grounds of pests, and see changes in land use. gave the following results: more branches; more flowers which became pods; longer pods with more seeds; larger and heavier seeds; extended flowering and pod formation; increased priming from 3 to 6; and extensive root system and nodulation.
Given the said benefits, Aurigue recommended that mungbean farmers use carrageenan PGP as supplement to their practice.
The topic was presented during the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) at World Trade Center in Pasay City. PCAARRD was one of the Councils of DOST that participated in the event. (LIZA R. GUTIERREZ, DOSTPCAARRD S&T MEDIA SERVICES) Prof. Moises Dorado, project leader of SEAMS and professor at UPLB’s Institute of Agricultural Engineering, said that they want to guide the farmers with advanced technologies that are available. Satellite remote sensing, he added, is the most feasible technology, and the images generated by more than 200 satellites already in outer space are freely available. Every crop has a specific spectral signature, thus the satellite system would know if the field is planted to rice or corn, for example.
SEAMS can also give site-specific advisories and information to farmers about the most suitable crops for a particular soil. Farmers can also refer to SEAMS if they decide to plant another crop or replace their crop with a drought-resistant variety in the next planting season.
Prof. Dorado explained that their team sends real-time or even ahead-of-time information like weather forecast to the farmers through radio, text, among other means.
The ability to provide farmers with real-time or ahead-oftime information is what we want to happen, especially when we talk about climate change. We need to be prepared, Dorado said.
SARAI, by the way, stands for Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines, funded by PCAARRD. (Excerpts from DOST Release)