Accurate, timely, and location-specific information in rice production is “crucial” in battling the ill effects of weather phenomena, such as El Niño, according to International Rice Research Institute (Irri).
Irri said tools, like the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM), are valuable in developing a national action plan to reduce the impact of El Niño and other events on rice production.
PRISM, a joint project of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Irri, can support strategic decision-making and planning of interventions to boost rice production, targeting of productivity-enhancing technologies and programs, disaster preparedness and rapid response to emergency situations.
According to Irri, PRISM can combine data and give crucial information about rice through remote sensing, crop modeling, cloud computing and smartphone-based surveys. These data include rice area, planting dates, yield estimates, areas affected by flood or drought, rice crop production situation and extent of damages caused by pests.
“PRISM enables us to determine the crop growth stage when a typhoon or drought strikes. We can also ascertain whether a particular area has been planted to rice during a specific season. And if not planted to rice, what specific problems may have contributed to this, so that interventions can be made,” said Dr. Alice Laborte, geographical information system (GIS) and market research specialist at Irri.
Laborte said she and her team had developed a proposal on early warning system for pests and diseases, so that appropriate and timely interventions can be made when and where they are needed.
Philippine Rice Research Institute Executive Director Calixto Protacio, for his part, said PRISM will be a “valuable” tool for food self-sufficiency, as it can pinpoint areas in the country where development is needed.
“For example, we can see which communities have very low yields, map these out and then target them or provide support to these communities.
We have an average yield of 4.01 tons per hectare, but the others are just averaging maybe 1 ton,” Calixto said.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, has proposed a bill that would require local government units to allocate a portion of their budget to agriculture so they can have the facilities to access PRISM.
“Modern tools, mechanization and financial literacy could help make Philippine agriculture more productive and competitive,”
Villar said.
According to Irri, El Niño is expected to last until the first half of 2016 throughout Southeast Asia. Although predicted to wane, the United Nations expects harvest will continue to be affected not only in the Philippines, but also in other parts of the world throughout the year.
Philippine policy-makers have crafted an action plan to help farmers mitigate the impact of the recurring climatic events, such as El Niño. Among the recommended strategies in the plan include growing drought-tolerant crops, adopting water-efficient techniques and cloud seeding.