THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) urged various national government agencies and learning institutions to collaborate and harmonize their efforts with regard to the use of remote-sensing technologies in the agricultural sector.
The Agency said data from such technologies can help inform anticipatory food price stabilization policies.
As the chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO), NEDA has been exploring the use of satellite-based technologies to inform anticipatory inflation management policy in recent months due to their potential to deliver data in a timelier manner.
As an inter-agency committee, the IAC-IMO was tasked to formulate and recommend policies to bring inflation back on target and manage it more effectively and elevate these recommendations to the Economic Development Group (EDG) for further discussions and endorsement to the President.
“The various technologies we discussed have significant potential to enhance our understanding, management, and policymaking for the agricultural sector,” stated NEDA Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Cancio during a knowledge sharing activity on satellite-based technologies in agriculture held recently that was hosted by NEDA.
During the event, all the participants shared how they utilized satellite images, drones, artificial intelligence (AI), or a combination of these technologies, to generate agricultural data, such as crop planting areas expected crop yields, and flood risk areas.
Likewise, other remote-sensing technologies generate data on crop health and status, pest and disease incidence, and drought and flood hazard areas. Such information can be used in monitoring the supply situation and outlook on agriculture.
“There’s a lot that has already been done with these technologies, but there is still a lot that we need to do, especially when it comes to collaboration and coordination between the organizations present today,” Cancio said.
NEDA urged the attendees to gather again in the future to work towards harmonizing these technologies and expand its use to create timelier and more reliable data sets for informing policy.
A series of forums with technology developers is also being looked at to be able to develop a harmonized and streamlined arsenal of remote-sensing technologies.
“We look forward to working together with all of you so that we can have a stronger and more advanced agricultural sector – a better Philippines where our fellow countrymen can enjoy a matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay,” Cancio said.
Among the agencies and academe that presented their respective initiatives on remote sensing technologies for agriculture were the Philippine Rice Research Institute’s (PhilRice) PRiSM team, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Project SARAI team, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD), DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
The Department of Finance (DOF), who also co-chairs the IAC-IMO, presented an overview of the IAC-IMO and shared their insights on how data gathered from remote-sensing technologies could be used to inform inflation policy recommendations.