The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) wrapped up its three-year project, “Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines” or SARAI by holding a culminating activity held on April 28, 2017 at NCAS Auditorium, UPLB.
SARAI is one of the initiatives that the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) initiated and funded to address the negative effects of climate change. SARAI aims to provide a decision support system in the agricultural sector by using modern tools and techniques. SARAI focuses on five priority crops, which include rice, corn, coffee, cacao, and banana. Some of the technologies developed include the SARAI knowledge portal, Smarter Pest Identification Technology (SPId Tech), and Crop suitability maps.
The culminating activity also launched the national program for integrated crop monitoring and forecasting system (ICMF), which UPLB initiated to continue the efforts of the SARAI program.
