The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) is set to develop a rice data warehouse that will be accessible to the public, especially the decision and policy making bodies at different government levels for decision and policy formulation.
Nehemiah L. Caballong, project proponent, said that the PhilRice Data Analytics Initiative Project (RiceLytics) aims to enhance baselining and forecasting of status of rice farmers and the rice industry in the country.
“The project will establish a centralized data warehouse, analytics process, and results library. The data analytics models will automatically characterize the Filipino farmers, illustrate the Philippine rice industry situation, and monitor and evaluate the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program of DA-PhilRice,” he explained.
Currently, generated reports on the status of rice farmers and performance of the rice industry are accessible through published briefers, infographics, books, and slide presentations.
The ICT specialist shared that the project will improve the traditional descriptive studies with new data analytics tools and techniques, and produce predictive and prescriptive analytics for stronger and wider insights.
“We will automate reports generation through the online dashboard, which will provide readily-available, easily-accessible, and always up-to-date information and insights,” he said.
He added that users will be able to access historical, current, and predictive information about the rice farmers including the basic profile, issues and concerns, farming techniques, preferred technologies, aspirations, and capabilities.
The public will also easily access data on rice area, production, yield per hectare, self-sufficiency, consumption, and future performance requirement at national, regional, provincial, and city/municipality levels.
Moreover, the section of the dashboard dedicated to the online analytics of RCEF’s ongoing implementation will include ongoing seed distribution and trainings and provide impact predictions to the lives of the rice farmers and the rice industry, according to him.
Other outputs of the project include journal article publication illustrating the development of the dashboard and a generic policy framework recommendation for government agencies in integrating analytics.
The project, which started in January this year and will end in December 2022, is funded by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIERRD) under its Good Governance through Data Science and Decision Support System (GODDESS) program.
