The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said it is advancing a modernized and science-based approach in agriculture, particularly in climate risk planning.
The DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) for data sharing and climate resilience on Thursday.
In a statement, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the partnership will pave the way for a more data-driven decision-making process.
“The PhilRice-PAGASA collaboration is an important step in our push for a more modern, climate-resilient, productive, and sustainable agriculture sector, while strengthening the country’s food security,” he said.
In particular, PAGASA will provide DA-PhilRice with weather and climate datasets.
These include gridded datasets such as ClimGridPh, as well as access to PAGASA’s Ten-Day Weather Forecast API.
Its forecast service provides data on rainfall, minimum and maximum temperatures, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and humidity.
PAGASA will also provide geospatial and hazard-related datasets, such as tropical cyclone tracks, rainfall advisories, affected provinces, drought and dry spell assessments, soil moisture maps, rainfall forecasts and surface-temperature forecasts.
For its part, the DA-PhilRice will provide PAGASA with rice-area and planting-date maps derived from the Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM), rice growth-phase datasets and other agricultural geospatial information.
Rice-risk assessments, historical provincial rice production and yield data and rice variety information will also be shared with PAGASA.
“By bringing weather and climate information together with agricultural data, we can help (the) government and farmers make better-informed decisions and respond more effectively to climate risks,” Tiu Laurel said.
The partnership will be effective until December 2028, subject to renewal, amendment, or early termination under specified conditions. (PNA)
