Solutions amidst Covid-19

Scheduled Farming
The IATF permitted Category I Industries to full operational capacity, and agriculture belongs to
Category I. But in accordance and precaution of the infiltration of virus, the number of farmers in the
farm field should be limited and social distancing should be considered.
The ABE shall implement a schedule on monitoring, watering and harvesting the agricultural
crops in farm field. The ABE should design a plan in how the system of the scheduled farming goes. With
the implementation of the schedule farming system, the number of farmers in the farm would be lessen
and IATF’s policies would be consider.

Usage of Machineries and Technologies

One of the solutions to lessen the number of farmers in the field is usage and intervention of
machineries and technologies such use the harvester, transplanter, etc. But the problem that is arising in
this solution is not all farmers can afford to buy a machineries and technologies.
So, the AB Engineers in the government and, department and institutions of agriculture should
lend a common machinery such combine rice harvester and transplanter to farmers, wherein the work
payment or lend payment of the machineries provided by the government should be lesser than the
commercialized or private owned machineries, so that the farmers will not be compromised in payments.

Mechanization
The AB Engineers shall design machineries taking consideration the different properties of this
agricultural produce. With the intervention of this machines, the number of the farmers can be limited and
the avoidance of social gathering is considered. Example of proposed machineries is Garlic size sorter
machine wherein this machine will consider the physical property of the garlic such as size, shape and
sphericity. Another sample is the Handy Rice Dryer and Vacuum-type Rice Suction, these machines will
consider the different thermal properties, physical properties like the angle of repose and moisture
content, and the aerodynamic properties of the rice.

Arduino-Based Water Irrigation System

The Arduino-Based Water Irrigation System is designed by an AB Engineer to monitor the
moisture content of soil and water the crops. With this technology, the farmer can monitor the soil
moisture content and water level of farm fields without going out, the farmer can monitor its farm field by
response or data information of the Arduino technology. The Arduino-Based water irrigation System
monitors the moisture content of the soil, and once it detected that it is lower than the normal soil’s
moisture content, then the Arduino will automatically open the irrigation system to water the plants. With
this technology, the farmer will not often go out to monitor its farm and it will lessen the number of
farmers in the farm field.
Development of Applications
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, the people are limited to go out and the mobilization of people
are limited. And with this limiting of the mobilization of the people, farmers are affected especially in
selling their agricultural crops, and lot of crops are wasted due to lack of buyers. As a solution, an AB
Engineer should develop an application where farmers can monitor the prices of agricultural produce,
contact and sell the produce to different corporation that buys agricultural produce. This Farm application
is like an online shop application that has a features of monitoring produce’s prices, contacting or
messaging different buyers, and selling or buying agricultural produce. And another application should be
developed where it can monitor the nutrients present in a crop like the LCC App of the PhilRice, with this
application, the farmer will easily determine the nutrients or fertilizer that they should apply on plants.
This agriculture application will be beneficial to farmers since it will decrease the status of the
wasted crops, and it will limit the mobilization of farmers and prevent them in going out often. The AB
properties that will be consider in this solution are physical properties like the mass, size, shape, color and
appearance.

Design a Packing of Products

One main agricultural product of Bacarra is the bell pepper wherein it is transported and sold in
other provinces like Benguet and Isabela. Due to Covid19, the transporting of good is limited and
quarantine should be implemented to those APOR. So, to maximize the load of the agricultural crops that
will be transported without wasting some of the crops, the AB Engineer should design a storage or
package that can maximize the storage capacity of agricultural crops.
Designing the storage or package of the crops will consider some of the physical properties such
shape, sphericity, size, roundness, mass and volume, and rheological properties in stacking or arranging
the packs of crops in transport vehicle. The AB Engineer should consider more the major diameter of the
agricultural crop since it is the most important measurement in terms of packing.

Processed Agricultural Products (Agro-Processing)

Due to Covid-19, lot of agricultural products are wasted due to lack of buyers and low demand
status of the crops. To lengthen the shelter life of these agricultural crops, the AB Engineer should
encourage and teach the farmers about agro-industry especially agro-business wherein the farmers will
process their agricultural crops into processed products such as black garlic, garlic powder, tomato sauce,
etc. The AB Engineer should apply his knowledge on Agricultural Processing to help the farmers to
increase their incomes, and lessen the number of wasted crops.

Webinar Series on Urban Farming and Hydroponics

Due to Covid-19, the IATF and the government implemented policies that limits the people to go
out, with this, the food supply of the family is at stake. To solve this problem, The AB Engineer should
conduct a webinar series on urban farming and hydroponics so that the people will have enough ideas
how to grow and their own food. This solution will help the people especially to those who are living in
the urban areas wherein they have a limited farm field to cultivate vegetable and crops, especially that
most of the establishments like groceries and markets are temporarily closed.