SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija—Climate change and global warming have taken their toll on crops, which are now suffering from heat stress.
But now there’s a solution in sight for crop heat stress. It comes in the form of a device that tells farmers of the presence of heat stress in crops and how to address them.
Called a heat stress analyzer, device is a sensor connected to a mobile app that assesses the crop’s condition accurately, more than the “feel method” or the traditional way farmers use.
Engineer Franch Maverick Lorilla, one of the device’s developers, said the HSA monitors the environment condition of the crop by measuring heat levels, light intensity, relative humidity, and soil moisture.
The device analyzes the data through the mobile app, and warns farmers when their crops are being affected by too much heat stress.
Lorilla said the HSA also provides statistics, historical trends, and recommendations based on analytics to help users make smarter decisions. He presented the device during the 3rd Agrihackathon symposium at the central experiment station of the Philippine Rice Research Institute here last month.
“Not only that, the analyzer is also equipped with pre-installed irrigation systems on the field and other automation components such as sprinklers, exhaust fans, and growing lights to automatically control crop heat stress,” Lorilla explained.
Crop heat stress is a condition that greatly affects plant growth, survival and crop yields. “This is due to the intense heat coming from the sun that causes drought, and the powerful light that affects the proper photosynthesis process of the crops,” he said.
The invention was a thesis proposal that evolved into a potential startup business for Lorilla and his fellow inventors Jan Rey Altivo, Rexon Lacaba, and Ket Villacensio from Davao City.
Last year, Lorilla’s group established CloudFarm Innovations Inc. after winning a startup competition from a non-profit organization called IdeaSpace and have since tested the device.
They are fine-tuning the technology with funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development.
“When the patent is granted, then we are ready for commercialization,” he said.
Nehemia Caballong, PhilRice ICT specialist, said the device also has the potential to help analyze heat stress on rice. The analyzer device has been tested in six farms, including a banana and cacao seedling plantation in Davao and a lettuce farm in San Pablo, Laguna, he said.
The event aimed to equip future information and communications technology practitioners with knowledge, experience, and motivation to develop ICT support for agriculture.