The Emergence of Disruptive Smart Farming Technologies in the Philippine Agriculture Under the New Normal

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic entered and disturbed activities in every nation, managing manual agricultural practices are slowly shifting towards automation such as the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning. This trend can be seen both in the global and local setting, which they termed precision agriculture or commonly known as smart farming. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of smart farming technologies both in urban and rural areas especially in the Philippines. The results showed that the impact on agriculture in terms of the economic aspect expanded by about 1.6% in its GDP despite the pandemic, that is experienced all over the globe. Furthermore, key performance indicators in aspects of economic, industry/manufacturing including labor and social were determined, which yielded out to be positive despite some barriers or constraints identified. In the end, there were - going programs and projects under precision agriculture that will support labor and employment, human development through government laws/policy, and research and development/innovation until the post-pandemic era or the new normal.