DA TO EMPLOY SATELLITE IMAGERY,
AERIAL SENSING FOR SUGARCANE
By Manny Piñol
On Monday, I personally convened and chaired the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) regular board meeting following the confirmation of reports that the country’s sugar production this year will be short by about 160,000 to 200,000 metric tons.
With representatives of the planters’ associations present as observers, the SRA board approved the importation of 100,000 metric tons of refined sugar for the use of bottlers and processors, 50,000 metric tons of refined sugar for confectionery makers and 50,000 metric tons of brown sugar to address the rising prices of the commodity in the market.
A week earlier, when the first reports of an apparent inaccurate projection of sugar production came out, I also invited to a meeting key industry stakeholders, including millers and traders to address the issue.
All agreed that there was an unexpected shortfall in the sugar production projection of about 160,000 to 200,000 metric tons for the year which was the reason why prices of sugar in the market have skyrocketed and that there was a need to import.
The importation will temporarily address the sugar supply shortfall but there was a bigger issue which I posed to the stakeholders of the sugar industry: Why was the production projection inaccurate?
Everybody admitted that the visual appreciation of standing crops as a method of determining the expected harvest was inaccurate.
This prompted me to decide that the sugar industry and other agricultural crop sectors should make use of modern technology for accurate crop projection, including detection of plant diseases.
The rice industry, through a coordinated effort among the Department of Agriculture, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the Department of Science and Technology and other government agencies, has been using the EAS Sentinel 1A Satellite for a program called PRISM or Philippine Rice Information System.
The EAS Sentinel 1A passes over rice production areas of the Philippines and other countries every 10 days and provides data on standing crops used for production projection which is why the rice industry could accurately project the production even before the harvest.
The SRA board approved my proposal and agreed to source funds for the start of a Satellite Imaging and Aerial Sensing Program which would provide accurate data on projected production.
The Satellite Imaging and Aerial Sensing Program will also be employed for such other crops as Banana, Coconut, Cacao, Coffee, Mango and other high value crops.
With accurate production projection, market speculation and manipulation will be stopped thus protecting both the farmers and the consumers.
The technology is available and there is no reason why agriculture should not employ it.
(The first photo shows the EAS Sentinal 1A satellite used by the rice industry. The second photo shows a satellite image of the rice producing region of the world and the third photo shows the data being processed under the PRISM program. These photos were downloaded from the IRRI website. The other photos show aerial images of various crops planted in the Philippines which were downloaded from the website of EagleSensing, a company which offers the technology of aerial sensing for agriculture.)
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