Empowering communities through digital tools in the Philippines: From laboratory to the farm

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate risks. It is exposed to strong typhoons, storm surges, prolonged monsoon rains and consequently, flooding, and extreme drought. To exacerbate this vulnerability, the country has a population of 109 million, 24% are poor, the country is archipelagic, its water resources are fragile, and with a very limited food production areas competing with rapidly expanding human settlements. In cognizant of these conditions, an interdisciplinary team from the University of the Philippines Los Banos, conducted an R&D program entitled “Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry” or Project SARAi funded by the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to address climate risks in agriculture. The products of this 10-year program include a Community-Level SARAI Enhanced Agriculture Monitoring System, or CL-SEAMS, which utilizes space technology and GIS, designed for crop and fisheries monitoring and forecasting at the local government levels (LGUs). The team has pilot tested the protocols in at least 3 municipalities and in the sugar industry sector. Capacity of the system also includes being able to determine areas damaged by extreme events in a shorter period of time (3-5 days vs. months previously). Hence, responses by the state are faster and less expensive. With projected climate extremes, this can enhance the capacity of the communities to adapt to changing weather and climate. Examples of SARAI digital tools include mobile applications for pest and disease identification and management (SPIDTech) to cover 20 crops; BanaTech, for determining harvest times for bananas; and Caphe, for coffee, to name a few. These digital tools are perceived to be beyond capacity at the local level. This paper will present the models of agriculture extension tested and adopted by SARAI to ensure that results of science, technology, and innovations empower farming communities nationwide.