The Central Luzon State University (CLSU) secured a new project funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) through the Agricultural Resources Management Research Division (ARMRD) under the Manila Economic and Cultural Office – Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (MECO-TECO) Cooperation Scheme launched last May 3, 2023, in a hybrid event.
The project titled "Monitoring and Management of Major Pests and Diseases of Corn and Onion through Robotics and Drone Technology (PEST D-TECH)", will be led by Dr. Gella Patria Abella, Head of the Institute for Climate Change and Environmental Management (ICCEM).
PEST D-TECH has been approved for a total budget of PHP 10,000,000.00 which will run from April 2023 to March 2025. It is a collaborative project with Dr. Ping-Lang Yen of the National Taiwan University (NTU) to employ sophisticated equipment such as drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) and robotics (unmanned ground vehicles), equipped with powerful multispectral cameras and sensors.
The event was attended by the project leader, project staff, stakeholders from CLSU and DLSU, and project monitoring officials from DOST-PCAARRD, who gathered to discuss the project’s goals, objectives, timelines, and resources required for successful implementation. Also, it was attended by New Hope Precision Agriculture Corporation, PEST D-TECH’s licensed drone service provider, to draft the service level agreement of the two collaborating parties. The attendees from CLSU convened at the Climate Change Center (CCC), ICCEM.
The project aims to collect the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) through remote sensing and hopes to produce crop monitoring systems that will help farmers avoid income losses caused by pests and diseases. The reflected intensities of visible and near-infrared lights will be used to determine crop health and assess crop condition, and photosynthetic activities. Moreover, it will also focus on identifying and addressing pests and diseases in onion and corn crops in selected sites in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.
