Space technology charts Iloilo rice lands

By Janet Rosalie Anne H. Polita
MediaCore, PCASTRD

Rice scarcity is a vital economic issue in the country.  When the country experiences drought especially during episodes of El Nino Southern Oscillation, importation of rice shoots up.

In 2002 alone, the country imported an estimated 1.14 million metric tons of rice based on Asia Rice Foundation report.

To alleviate domestic rice production, a team of scientists from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration led by Dr. Flaviana Hilario explored ways to address recurrent shortfall by identifying rice growing areas that could help sustain rice requirement.

“We have identified Iloilo province with its vast agricultural land as one of the major rice growing areas in the Visayas, “ Dr. Hilario said.

The research team undertook vegetation and soil moisture mapping project in Iloilo funded by the Philippine Council for Science and Technology Research and Development, a sectoral council of the Department of Science and Technology.  The project is part of PCASTRD's space technology applications program which recognizes the technology's vital role in national development.

  Dr. Hilario's team aimed to produce a map of Iloilo's rice growing areas that will feature the growth stages of rice field, types of land cover, and areas with high soil moisture.  Data from medium resolution imaging spectrometer or MERIS and advanced synthetic aperture radar or ASAR will be used to produce the maps.

MERIS and ASAR are just two of a wide spectrum of space technologies in use today to provide comprehensive information for environmentally sustainable development planning process and poverty alleviation program

MERIS is a pushbroom instrument that measures the solar-reflected radiation from the Earth's surface and from clouds in the visible and near infrared range during daytime.  It provides a synergistic mission for bio/geophysical characterization of the oceans, land, and coastal zones.

ASAR, on the other hand, can be used to monitor land surface properties, soil moisture and wetland extent, deforestation, desertification, and natural hazards. 

“Decision makers as well as planners from the agricultural and water resources will benefit from the land use and cover maps that will be produced from this project,” Dr. Hilario said.  “It will aid them in allocating their budget or resources for improved rice production,” she added.

Aside from producing maps of rice growing areas in Iloilo, Dr. Hilario's team is also interested in assessing soil moisture of the rice lands.

According to Dr. Hilario, soil moisture plays an important part in agriculture and hydrometrology.   Soil moisture data can be used for reservoir management, early warning droughts, irrigation scheduling, and crop yield forecast.

The two-year project that kicked off last August 2002 had the support of the European Space Agency that provided satellite data throughout the project's duration.

“With this project, we are not only responding to the current rice production problem but also exploring the use of advanced technology as aid to our country's sustainable development,” Dr. Hilario said.