[U-04] Geospatial Applications for Societal Benefits

[U04-12] Digitizing Philippine Agriculture through GIS and RS for monitoring, early warning, and post-disaster assessment

*Maria Regina Villena Regalado¹, Ma. Ericha M Amante¹, Rosemarie Laila D Areglado-Dimasuay¹, Loucel E Cui¹, Moises A Dorado¹, Maria Victoria O Espaldon¹, Decibel F Faustino-Eslava¹, Denice Janelle B Pantua¹, Leo Neil T Viado¹ (1.University of the Philippines Los Banos)

Keywords:smart agriculture, Philippines, GIS, agricultural monitoring, technology acceptance

Extreme weather events such as typhoons, floods, and droughts significantly affect the agriculture sector. These caused severe crop damage, affecting crop production and possibly leading to food insecurity. Although these extreme weather events are beyond human control, proper planning and monitoring can lessen the impacts of these events. Thus, using tools that can facilitate efficient monitoring of crops is beneficial, such as integrating digital agriculture into traditional practices. Some tools that can be utilized for digitizing agriculture are Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). These offer several functionalities that can be utilized by the mandated agencies in planning, zoning, and spatial monitoring. These tools were utilized by the Project Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines (Project SARAI), a research program funded by the Philippine government. In particular, the Community-Level SARAI-Enhanced Agriculture Monitoring System (CL-SEAMS) produces near real-time and site-specific crop monitoring, crop forecasting, and damage assessment using GIS and RIS. One of the highlights of this system is the post-disaster assessment; using the system, near real-time monitoring maps can be quickly produced by local agricultural technicians. However, its acceptance as a tool for agricultural monitoring, partnered with traditional methods, depends on the acceptance of the target users. The acceptance of this system was analyzed using a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model (Venkatesh, 2003;2012). This will be used as a basis for the improvement of the system.