DAVAO CITY – Science and technology has helped farmers in Davao Region in terms of disaster preparedness of recent typhoons and from improving their livelihood, a regional government executive said.
Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, chairperson of the Davao Regional Development Council said that weather forecasting gadgets and other technology for the agriculture production have improved adaptation and survival of residents along the path of weather disturbances.
Del Rosario lauded the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) during the RDC meeting on Friday for their ongoing projects such as the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) which he said had reached the grassroots.
“(This) is important especially to rural areas as these technology is able to predict the amount of rainfall, possible landslides, and farmers are being helped especially concerning their livelihood,” the governor said.
In the past two years, local government units in the region have relied on NOAH and other technology to project geohazard areas especially at the onset of typhoons. The preparations have helped reduced casualties.
The event also saw the turnover by DOST of 56 sets of hydro- meteorological sensors to the local executives of Davao Region, a device that will monitor rainfall and surface waters to detect threat of floods.
DOST plans to distribute 100 more sensors in the region, and 1,000 more all over the country.
DOST Secretary Mario Montejo said this turnover is also part of their nationwide tour to raise public awareness on their projects. Other projects by DOST include support for agri-technology and small to medium enterprises.
Another major study of the agency is the project DREAM, which monitors the country’s water resources and projects its availability for the next 10 to 20 years in terms of providing irrigation and power generation for the regions. (davaotoday.com)
