The Smart City of Cauayan continues embodying its name as the first Smart City of the Philippines by hosting the regional pilot of the Digital Farmers Program (DFP) dubbed as DFP 103 Smart Agriculture Technologies Rice Edition on July 26-28, 2023, at Cauayan City Mushroom Center, Tagaran, Cauayan, City Isabela.
The conduct of Smart Agriculture Technologies is in line with the goals of the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute in helping Filipino farmers to entwine into modern and smart farming. DFP is a ladderized digital literacy program that aims to increase and improve the capabilities and capacities of farmers to utilize modern technologies such as smartphones, internet, satellite, and drone technologies for farm efficiency and productivity.
”Ang mga kabataan sila ang mga digital native, mga pinanganak sa panahon ng teknolohiya, kaya kailangan nating sumabay,” said Mrs. Remedios Galdonez, one of the farmer participants.
Twenty participants composed of farmer-leaders and youth partners were exposed to digital applications on agriculture that would ease farming operations.
They tried to use the apps in determining weeds and pests and also had the chance to operate the Binhing Palay App, which for them is one of the best apps to use on their farms. The Binhing Palay app offers a catalog of Philippine rice varieties. It includes all released rice varieties in the Philippines. Sort and filter through the list of rice varieties according to location, environment, season, crop establishment, seed classification, and release year.
The participants also engaged in the Payong PAGASA application where knowledge and hands-on training were gained. Mr. Ramil Tuppil, Chief Meteorological Officer of ISU-PAGASA Agromet, explained that the Payong PAGASA App helps farmers in tracking down and ascertain the weather conditions in a specific area anytime.
Also, the participants were taught to operate the Rice Crop Manager Advisory Services (RCMAS) and generate nutrient and crop management recommendations. The RCMAS is a digital agriculture application for improved crop and farm data management. It uses digital technology to help and aid farmers with site-specific crop and nutrient management recommendations for their rice fields. The said application integrates agricultural production through recommended fertilizer application rates in print or through text messages straight to their mobile phones.
Another modern app that was enjoyed by the participants is the Leaf Color Computing App. This app allows the farmer to just capture leaf images with their smartphone's front camera and let the LCC App analyze their rice farm’s leaf images for their real-time Nitrogen fertilizer recommendations and many other features.
Notably, one of the highlights of the training was the conduct of the Field Demonstration of a Drone wherein the participants were able to witness how the drone works in spraying fertilizer into the rice field. Also, the farmers and youths have undergone a series of lectures about Smart Agriculture, Binhing Palay, Pest Risk Identification and Management, Drone Technology, Field Demonstration of Drone Technology (Drone Seeding/Fertilizer Spreading/Pesticide or Herbicide Spraying, e-Damuhan, and Payong PAGASA.
The participants saw with their naked eyes the innovative and smart agriculture through drone to fertilize the rice field in just a few minutes.
”Maganda ang ginagawa ng Department of Agriculture at ATI, lalung-lalo na itong smart agriculture technologies. Marami kaming natutunan kagaya sa drone. Sana tayong lahat, marami tayong natutunan sa SAT, at sana hindi natin ipagdamot lahat ng naituro at ipaalam sa mga magsasaka.” Mr. Felix Ancheta shared.
The participants were amazed and happy to witness the demonstration. They also handled and took shots with the drone adding to their experience as part of their hands-on training.
Graduation of the participants follows after the lectures and activities. The participants shared their impressions and all of them were satisfied with the training. Aside from the certificates and tokens, the graduates also received special awards for showing exemplary efforts during the 3-day training.
“Napaka-informative at talaga namang marami tayong natutunan, at nag-upgrade na rin ang ating kaalaman. Nalaman natin na may mga digital apps pa pala na pwede nating gamitin para ma-improve yung ating pagsasaka na syang makatutulong sa atin para magkaroon ng mas mataas na income at nakaiiwas sa mga pest at diseases sa mga palayan. Napakalaking opportunity itong training na ito sa aming mga youth farmer dahil maipapasa namin ito sa mga susunod na henerasyon ang pagiging smart farmer.” Ms. Liza Pisalang, said.
