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This
article is based on the 2007 study “Assessing and Increasing
the Readiness of Selected LGUs in CALABARZON for Precision
Agriculture” by Don Joseph M. Medrana.
Just
enough is more. The farming sector took this principle to
come up with Precision Agriculture (PA), a viable and holistic
farming system to produce more with just enough resources.
PA
relies on spatial information to identify the variability
within a field, and manage such variability to optimize profit
and production while minimizing the adverse environmental
impacts.
With
PA, farmers can vary input use and cultivation methods including
the application of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and water;
variety selection; planting; tillage; and harvesting to match
the varying soil and crop conditions across a field (Srinivasan
2002). This would normally result in input savings and higher
productivity.
PA
also serves as a decision support tool by providing site-specific
information like climatic condition, and the suitability of
a crop or a cropping system in a given locality among others.
In
a world where globalization has added intricacy to concerns
on food insecurity and natural resource degradation, precision
in agriculture can be viable development response.
Can we get a bit more precise?
While PA offers tremendous farm productivity improvements,
its adoption among farmers in the developing world is still
very low. One contention is that its benefits may not be sufficient
to justify the entailed cost of PA equipment.
Indeed,
for Filipino farmers, most of whom are smallholders with an
average farm size of 2.5 ha (IFAD 2006), the savings on inputs
from PA may not be very significant as to cover the cost of
modern tools.
Nevertheless,
the principle behind PA is highly applicable in the developing
world. But for it to be viable in the Philippines, it should
build on the existing technology and resource endowments.
Even the use of traditional and existing modern technologies
in the Philippines in PA can attain some level of precision.
Hence,
“Yes, we can get a bit more precise.”
Precision
means benefits
In PA, greater precision means greater possibility of benefits.
This means that developing countries, with their relatively
lack of precision technology, can only attain a certain level
of precision. But just how precise can we actually get?
This
question is best answered by actual developing country experiences.
For example, from 1997 to 2000, on-farm experiments at 179
sites in eight irrigated rice countries (Dobermann et. al.
2004) evaluated the performance of site-specific nutrient
management (SSNM). SSNM was found to be most profitable at
sites in China, Southern India, and the Philippines, with
average profit increases ranging from US $57 to US $82 / ha
per crop.
In
the Philippines, precision is a principle highly valued by
sugarcane farmers in the provinces of Negros, Tarlac, Bukidnon
and Batangas, four of the Philippines’ largest sugarcane
producers.
Precise
information on soil types; slopes; elevation; land use; climate;
and input-output records such as fertilizer, irrigation, variety,
planting, and harvesting dates, pest and diseases guide sugarcane
farmers in making critical farm decisions.
The
maps produced by the geographical information system (GIS),
a component technology of PA have also become useful references
in making lease agreements.
Given
its potential benefits to the agriculture and natural resources
sectors, PA could be one of the most effective strategies
to achieve sustainable development in the third world. Developing
countries may not get as precise as the developed countries,
but at least, some level of precision earns some level of
additional benefits. (Don M. Medrana, S&T Media Service)
References:
Dobermann,
Achim, Simon Blackmore, Simon E. Cook, Viacheslav I. Adamchuk.
2004. Precision Farming: Challenges and Future Directions.
A paper published in "New directions for a diverse
planet," proceedings of the 4th International Crop
Science Congress, 26 Sep – 1 Oct 2004. Brisbane, Australia.
Published on CDROM.
IFAD
(International Fund for Agricultural Development). 2006.
Geography, agriculture and the economy of the Philippines.
An article posted at the Rural Poverty Portal, http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org
last accessed February 2007.
Srinivasan,
Ancha. 2002. Precision Agriculture, Modeling and Land
Use Planning. Institute for Global Environmental Studies.
Japan.
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