Information technology for agriculture

Dear Mr. President: There are at least eight government agencies that should be involved in using technology for agriculture, but as of now, they are seemingly not coordinating with each other. These agencies are DICT, DA, DAR, DENR, CHED, TESDA, NAMRIA and PhilSpace.

The roles of DICT and DA are obvious, because they are the two major players in the challenge of using information technology for agriculture. The role of DAR comes into play, because agriculture development is the next step after agrarian reform and land distribution. DENR should also be involved, because there are overlaps in planting trees and other crops in mountains and other public lands. CHED should also be involved, because there are many SUCs that have developed new information technologies that have yet to be commercialized. And lastly, TESDA should be involved, because they should already be teaching information and communications technology (ICT) skills to vocational and technical students.

NAMRIA is in possession of a lot of geographical data, not only for agriculture. PhilSpace is our very own space agency, Mr. President, it could no longer be denied that modern agriculture must already use ICT technology today, if it is to succeed at all. Without using ICT technology, it would be very difficult for agriculture, not only in production, but also in processing, packaging, financing, logistics and marketing. And just like any other industry, agriculture needs ICT resources namely hardware, software, connectivity and manpower.

Many years ago, there was a lot of discussion about the so-called “knowledge economy”, meaning the economy that utilizes ICT resources, among its many definitions. At that time, the conversations focused on the idea that in the “knowledge economy”, everyone must be a “knowledge worker”, meaning that everyone should have computer skills of one level or another. I was one of those who provided technical support to the senators who passed the e-commerce law, and at that time, I remember that the conversations focused on the prediction that in the future, if companies will not adopt e-commerce, it would be as if they would not be doing any commerce at all.

Clearly, that has become a reality now. Based on that, it would not be far-fetched to say that soon, if farmers will not adopt ICT technologies, they will not be doing any agriculture at all. Obviously, farmers would also need e-commerce to sell their goods, but that is not all that they would need. On the production side, they would need a lot of data inputs to be able to know what to plant, when to plant and where to plant.

And for the new crops, they would also need information about how to plant them. Among the ICT resources that could be used for agriculture are satellites, drones, low orbit balloons, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Aside from data collection, low orbit balloons could also be used for internet connectivity, the same as satellites. IoT devices are mostly sensors that could detect and measure heat, coldness and motion, among others. IoT devices can use non-commercial forms of connectivity, such as Long Range (LoRa) and TV white space (TVWS). LoRa is a type of long-range, low power wireless data communications technology. It uses a modulation technique called Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS). TVWS are the unused frequencies between the VHF and UHF spectra. Mr. President, perhaps the lack of coordination between these eight agencies could be made possible if you could create a new task force, or perhaps you could issue a new Executive Order to give this effort a stronger executive authority. Such an initiative could also greatly contribute to our food security.