A Filipino agronomist on Tuesday urged the government to prioritize establishing modern solutions to address the current problems in the agriculture and food industries of the country.

Prof. Teodoro Mendoza, who specializes in fields of agriculture and crop science at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, said that to be able to formulate efficient interventions, present problems in the local food industry should first be established.

“In our food chain, starting from the production supply... there are challenges. In production, why is our yield so low? What is the reason? It needs to be established,” he told the DAILY TRIBUNE during the Department of Science and Technology’s Annual Scientific Conference and 91st General Membership Assembly at the Philippine International Convention Center.

“We have lost about a million hectares of land already. These are the irrigated lands. So how is that now? Those that can still be retrieved, retrieve them now,” he continued.

Thus, in response to this, the agronomist said that artificial intelligence can play a crucial role in formulating solutions to these problems, as it is already being maximized in different countries.

“It is necessary that we scan them through drones. What are the vacant areas where we can plant rice? [Determine] what the problems are; if it's in irrigation, focus on that. Is there a water source? so on and so forth,” he said.

He added, “The AI, their scanning of soil conditions and fertility, has been done in other countries; why not here? Maybe as an agronomist, I can say that there are indicators of vegetation if the soil is still good.”

“As for irrigation, examine the watershed, if there is no watershed, of course, there is naturally no source of water ultimately. That will also be the cause of flooding,” he added.

Mendoza further urged the public to practice maintaining a garden in each household as an easy and sustainable source of food.

“Our transformation is from a food-growing culture to a food-eating culture,” he expressed. "If you say there is no place to plant, that is not the reason because you can plant in a cement box or a plastic box. Why can you grow ornamental plants, [but] you can't grow eggplant, okra, etc.?"

"We can be self-sufficient. Like I said, it's very easy to plant.”

The agronomist further expressed hopes of having AI technologies in the county relevant to agriculture, such as crop and soil monitoring, insect and plant disease detection, livestock health monitoring, and remote sensing technologies.

“I saw the budget; the DA [Department of Agriculture] now has a P1.1 [billion] digitalization fund; I hope these are included,” he said.