Drones now used to map plantations

BAGUIO CITY — The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) said it has adopted drone technology to map tobacco plantations around the country, marking a significant milestone in its efforts to enhance the agency’s functions.

NTA Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Belinda S. Sanchez said they have embraced drone technology as part of their ongoing digitalization program to validate the actual areas planted with tobacco by their farmer — partners.

Each of the eight branch offices of NTA has been provided with one unit of DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise Drone while another drone unit was given to the Farm Technology and Services Department (FTSD), Ms. Sanchez said.

Director Freddie G. Lazaro, NTA information officer, said the drone supplier, through the FTSD, had conducted a series of training sessions on basic operations, safety, and maintenance of the equipment, including data processing.  Three staff members from each branch office completed the training in December 2023 and March 2024, he added.

According to Mr. Lazaro, “with the high-resolution aerial imaging and geospatial analysis captured by drones, the area of the tobacco plantations will accurately measure and become the basis for the computation of the volume of production.”

NTA oversight official, Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor B. Savellano cited that the initiative is in line with the agriculture modernization and digitalization agenda of Agriculture department chief Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr.

Farmer leader Bernard R. Vicente, the re-elected president of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers Association and Cooperatives, hailed the NTA’s utilization of drone technology saying, “it is a faster and more accurate validation of the area planted with tobacco”.

For Cropping Year 2023 — 2024, NTA FTSD Manager Juanito Maloom said 100% of the areas planted with all types of tobacco in Luzon were validated through drone technology.  Among the types of tobacco planted were Virginia, Burley, and Native varieties.

A total of 22,073.09 hectares planted with tobacco by 36,102 farmers in Luzon were already validated through drone technology for calendar year 2023 – 2024. — Artemio A. Dumlao