AI seen to improve food security, boost agriculture employment

MANILA, Philippines — The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture and fisheries is expected to improve the country’s food security and even entice the youth to venture in the sector, according to experts.

Various researchers on AI emphasized that the technology would ease various farming practices, resulting in more efficient processes that would lead to higher yield, lesser wastage and better farmers’ welfare.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said that AI is necessary in digitalizing farm practices that would lead to sustainable agricultural production and better welfare for farmers.

“The urgency for digital transformation is underscored by the looming challenges such as food scarcity, economic fluctuations and supply chain disruptions,” said Honorio Flameño, the DA’s information and communication technology service director, during the first day of the University of the Philippines’ two-day conference on AI.

One of the key projects highlighted during the conference was Fish-I that could be used in assessing fish stocks in various water bodies in the country.

Fish-I addresses the “scant” availability of fish experts in the country and significantly reduces the risks that human divers face just to assess coral and fish stocks, said Laura David, director of the UP Marine Science Institute.

Fish stock assessment, David pointed out, is critical for the country’s food security as it would allow policy-makers and industry players to determine the availability of supply in a given body of water.

“It allows for the democratization of frequent monitoring of the fish sites. For example, local government units can do it on their own and just submit the data to us have our servers run through the data and give them the analysis in about two to three weeks time,” she said.

AI can also be used to accelerate the identification of specific strains of viruses and diseases such as avian influenza and African swine fever, leading to faster creation of much-needed vaccines to curb and prevent outbreaks.

Homer Pantua of UP Los Baños, for example, led a team that created an AI-driven system that monitors pig behavior and allows the detection of early signs of illnesses like ASF. Such a system reduces the need for manual observation and improves animal welfare.

“This technology allows us to act swiftly in detecting diseases, potentially saving millions in losses and improving overall farm productivity,” said Pros Naval, who co-leads the project.

Another research highlighted during the UP conference was the application of AI in detecting calamansi diseases, allowing farmers to have better management of their crop that could minimize their losses and improve earnings.

The AI model has an 87.2 percent accuracy, making it a good complement to farm management work as it cuts down on labor-intensive task of manually checking each calamansi tree.

“Our model gives farmers an advanced tool to detect diseases early, significantly improving crop management and productivity,” researcher Madecheen Pangaliman said.

The researchers also noted that AI could be helpful in enticing the youth to venture into agriculture and fisheries due to modern technological farming and fishing practices.

For example, fish experts welcomed the creation of Fish-I instead of being worried that they would be replaced by the AI-driven technology, David said. With the presence of Fish-I, fish experts would now have more time to analyze data and generate more in-depth insights, she added.