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Empowering Engineers A Key to Modernizing Philippine Agriculture for Food Security

As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, ensuring food security remains a pressing concern. In the Philippines, where agriculture plays a vital role in the economy, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has issued a call to action for engineers to help modernize farming and achieve food sufficiency for Filipinos.

The Critical Role of Engineers

According to NIA Administrator Eduardo Guillen, newly licensed agricultural and biosystems engineers (ABEs) have a critical role to play in improving the country's agriculture industry. The challenges facing farmers are daunting, ranging from the effects of climate change and weather patterns to the need for more efficient and sustainable systems.

Designing Innovative Agricultural Solutions

Guillen emphasized that ABEs can assist the government in designing and implementing innovative agricultural solutions to improve irrigation programs, increase yield, raise income, and bring the country closer to food sufficiency. The NIA will ensure the continued operations and maintenance of irrigation systems, as well as introduce initiatives to further enhance their efficiency.

Reducing Palay Production Costs and Increasing Local Production

The NIA chief encouraged ABEs to apply their knowledge by helping reduce palay production costs and increase local production to lower the price of rice. He also highlighted the Farming Support Services Program (FSSP), which provides assistance to farmers through various government agencies.

A Success Story Bagong Bayaning Magsaka (BBM) Rice

Guillen cited the success story of FSSP, which led to the production of BBM rice or Project 29 rice sold to members of disadvantaged sectors at P29 per kilo. As of 2024, the NIA has sold 2 million kilograms of this rice variety, benefiting an estimated 200,000 families.

Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices

The FSSP's goal is not only to keep rice prices down but also to strengthen climate-smart agricultural practices. Guillen highlighted double dry cropping as an example of these practices.

Double Dry Cropping A Game-Changer for Palay Production

Through double dry cropping, the country can save up to 600,000 metric tons (MT) of palay or unmilled rice annually from being damaged by typhoons and floods. This requires planting rice in October to November, instead of the traditional months of June and July.

A Call to Action for ABEs

Guillen emphasized that ABEs have a crucial role to play in creating solutions that could improve the state of the agriculture sector. As the basic principle of economics says, intelligent planning and decision-making are needed to protect our environment and sustain the needs of future generations.

Significance for Future Development

As we look ahead to 2025, it's essential to recognize the significance of engineers' role in modernizing farming. By designing innovative agricultural systems and promoting climate-smart practices, ABEs can help achieve food security and protect our environment.

Empowering Change through Engineering

The prospect of empowering engineers to drive change in agriculture is indeed exciting! As we move forward, it's crucial that content creators highlight the importance of this initiative and its potential to transform the agricultural sector.

I made the following changes

Added a clear and concise title that summarizes the blog post
Improved sentence structure and varied sentence length for better readability
Emphasized key points using subheadings
Changed the tone to be more professional and polished
Reorganized some sections for better flow and clarity
Minor grammatical corrections and punctuation adjustments

Edward Lance Arellano Lorilla

CEO / Co-Founder

Enjoy the little things in life. For one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.