‘Philippines still has many idle lands’
State agriculture researchers said the Philippines has still many idle lands yet to be cultivated for food production.
Reynan Calderon, an agriculture scientist based in the Bataan Peninsula State University, stated this following his recent visit to Fukuoka, Japan, where he presented research papers at the International Symposium on Machinery and Mechatronics for Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
“In the Philippines there are still many idle, unproductive lands, although we have tropical climate, which is more conducive to farming than in Japan,” said Calderon.
He cited Japan’s thrust of improving the already efficient agricultural production through precision agriculture.
Calderon said, “In Japan, even in very minimal landholdings, machines are utilized in planting and harvesting to effectively carry out specific tasks. In the Philippines tasks are still carried out using man-animal labor.”
He said, “Furthermore, in Japan, small areas are farmed by using green houses to plant crops and vegetables. Japanese farmers are equipped with skills in such a way that production can be done simultaneously, thus making large production in small areas by as many farmers as possible.”
He also said, “Amazingly, they can produce crops even under harsh weather conditions or even during winter. They are utilizing energy-efficient light-emitting diodes attached to the sensors. This technology is very sensitive, since it can change colors from red to blue and vice versa depending on the plant’s needs for photosynthesis.”
He recalled that at the conference, speakers from Korea, Taiwan and Japan talked of national policies with regard to the food security of their countries, including breakthroughs in agriculture technology.
Calderon was joined by Rudy C. Flores, another BPSU agriculture scientist, and Adriano B. Singian, an engineer and a research scientist at the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University, in presenting the research papers at Kyushu University.
They presented the two research papers entitled “Aerobic Rice Technology for Climate Change Mitigation and Increasing Food Production in the Philippines” and “Balog Balog Multipurpose Dam of the Philippines: For Continuing Development or For Continuing Disaster.” BusinessMirror
