THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday said it would test the use of the latest technologies such as satellite and artificial intelligence in its latest Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF).
The CAF is conducted every 10 years to “update the situation on the ground” in terms of sizes of farmland, aquaculture and fisheries, crops and other key metric in the sectors, National Statistician Usec. Dennis Mapa said in a press briefing.
“Kailangan natin i-update ang ating resources for example gaano na ba kalaki ang ating farm area nitong 2022 relative to the previous decade,” Mapa said.
Mapa said this would also be the first time computer-aided interview would be employed, for faster processing of results.
“Nagpi-pilot tayo sa census na ito ng use of artificial intelligence (AI) para magamit natin sa mga susunod, kasi ito na ang ginagamit ng ibang bansa, use of satellite data to measure areas…AI will be used to provide data for area estimation and count of selected crops and aquafarms for 2022 CAF,” he said.
Based on the data, for example, Mapa said a decline in farm area has been observed in the past decades.
“Nakita natin sa datos bumababa ang ating farm area in terms of hectares, for example, ‘yung 1980 9.7 million hectares, nung 1991 close to 10 million hectares, 2002 9.67 million hectares, 2012 bumaba 7.27 million hectares,” he said.
The census, which will be conducted in farming and fishing communities nationwide from Sept. 4 to Oct. 25, will gather data on the fishing and farming activities from January to December 2022.
The PSA urged those who are involved in the fisheries and farming sectors in the country to accommodate the officials and the survey since the output would be crucial for policy-making, benchmark-setting and economic development. (ABS-CBN News)
