The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to address agricultural drought in the country.
The agreement aims to create crop-specific drought maps from satellite data, with a focus on rice. PhilSA will leverage rice maps and field data from the DA-PhilRice to generate rice-specific drought maps, which will provide valuable insights for agricultural planning and resilience.
The signing of the agreement formalizes the data-sharing between the two agencies for enhanced drought mitigation.
In her opening remarks, PhilSA deputy director general for Space Science and Technology Gay Jane P. Perez said the collaboration is a momentous step in the use of space data for addressing agricultural drought concerns.
The endeavor has been in development for over a decade, starting with the Drought and Crop Assessment and Forecasting (DCAF) project co-implemented by the University of the Philippines Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (UP IESM), Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), and Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM), and now being operationalized through PhilSA.
“We are celebrating partnership. This collaboration with PhilRice underpins the importance of integrating satellite and ground data, emphasizing how ground data is used to validate, calibrate, and enhance the accuracy of satellite-derived insights and models,” Perez said.
PhilRice OIC deputy director for research and Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM) project leader Eduardo Jimmy Quilang cited the importance of the partnership with PhilSA for the agricultural sector’s benefit.
“We cannot realize our goals, our dreams, our mission, our vision alone. Our research for development is heavily partnership-based. That’s why right now we are more than happy to sign our memorandum of agreement — sharing what we have and complementing what you are doing,” Quilang said.
The agreement provides a platform to maximize the impact of PhilSA’s Satellite Mission Analysis, Planning, Product Enhancement and Development (SatMAPPED) project, which aims to monitor, predict, and mitigate drought impacts on agriculture through space-based technologies.
