AB ENGINEERING AS A SOLUTION IN ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY

AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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The future of the Philippines depends on the next generation of problem solvers. Creative

and skilled individuals, like you, can use their knowledge of agriculture and life sciences, along

with the problem-solving skills of engineering, to create new systems and solutions for the 21st

Century. Agriculture is changing faster than any time in history. That’s why, if you are interested

in helping direct the future of agriculture for achieving food security and sustainable

development of our country, a degree in Agricultural and Biosystems engineering is what you

need. Engineering has a major contribution to make to the required advances in sustainable

farming and food, in sympathy with the environment. The Philippines' response to global food

security will be much stronger if Agricultural and Biosystems engineering is recognized as a

critical component, capable of breaking down traditional barriers and enhancing

multidisciplinary approaches to challenges.1

“Food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to

sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active

and healthy life.” (World Food Summit, 1996). In this definition, food security concerns the

welfare of individuals, rather than the other frequent use of the term as national self-sufficiency

in food. Being food insecure implies hunger. Hunger varies by time and degree: chronic and

transitory conditions may usefully be distinguished; as may be severe and moderate degrees.

Although transitory food crises that sometimes become outright famine attract more attention on

account of the numbers quickly affected and often by the severity of their plight, chronic hunger

is more common.
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 Food security may usefully be seen as the result of three factors: people will be food secure

when there is sufficient food available, when people have access to it, and when it is well utilized

– and some would add as a fourth condition, when availability and access are reliable (Slater,

et.al., 2011).

The global food system is beset by challenges and threats. With the global population

rapidly increasing, changing global landscape, and environmental risks that endanger agriculture,

food security is now a huge concern. It has now become a major challenge to attain and maintain

food security at a time of economic uncertainties and high commodity prices. In the Philippines,

the challenge of achieving food security has long been recognized by the government, together

with domestic agricultural productivity (Esteban, 2015). Food security and sustainable

development are a multidimensional issue that encompasses agriculture, human nutrition, and

public health as well as economics and governance in the Philippines and Agricultural and

Biosystems Engineering is a solution that can address these issues in our country.

According to Caraga State University (2019), the Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and

Biosystems Engineering (BSABE) is designed to produce graduates who possess knowledge,

skills, and attitudes in the application of engineering science and designs to the processes and

systems involved in the sustainable production, post production, and processing of safe food,

feed, fiber, timber, and other agricultural and biological materials; the efficient utilization,

conservation, and management of natural and renewable resources; and development of climate

change mitigation measures. Furthermore, IAgrE (2012) stated that agricultural engineering is a

recognized focus of engineering skills and innovation that takes a strongly multidisciplinary

approach to agricultural problems. In like manner, Iowa State University (1995) stated that AB

engineering is a very diverse engineering major. Students who consider this major typically
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don’t picture themselves just working behind a desk solving problems; they are people who like

hands-on problem solving and design implementation. They like to work in teams to solve

societal problems related to agriculture. AB engineers solve problems related to agricultural

equipment, water quality and water management, biological products, livestock facilities, food

processing, and many other agricultural areas.

The Philippines is at a major crossroads in its pursuit of sustainable development. While

agricultural productivity and total food production or food security in the Philippines remains

one of the lowest in the world. Recent global concerns about widespread food insecurity, rising

food prices and volatility have stimulated international interest and attention on Philippines for

two main reasons:

1. Can AB engineers help the community?

2. How can Philippines’ abundant agricultural land and other natural resources be

harnessed to meet the food security and sustainable development in the Philippines?3

Many systems of food production are unsustainable. Without change, the many current

approaches will continue to degrade the environment and compromise the world’s capacity to

produce food in the future, as well as contributing to climate change and the destruction of

biodiversity. The vision for the future of agriculture identifies sustainable intensification, and a

systematic approach to deal with agricultural change in a “climate-smart” way as key. Such

approaches need to include technological advances based on engineering science, and the use of

systems models to provide an integrated understanding of the benefits and risks associated with

new practices. There is scope for a wide range of physical science and engineering disciplines to

play a part. The contribution of engineering needs to be more widely recognized in meeting

societal challenges in global food security and contributing to economic growth and an
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engineering community addressing these issues needs to be established with effective links to the

key stakeholders.4

There are 5 proofs that Agricultural and Biosystems engineering is a solution in responding

to the challenges in the community as identified by the Foresight Global Food and Farming

Futures Project (2011l). The first one is AB engineering are responsible in balancing future

demand and supply sustainably, precision management of inputs, detection of disease and control

of production systems, and more efficient use of key resources such as irrigation water to deliver

sustainable intensification. Second, they're liable in addressing the threats of future volatility in

the food system, farm systems models and operational research to understand more clearly how

interventions are likely to affect farming practice and outputs, and investment of skills and

management advances into storage regimes and facilities to buffer food supply chains against

local or regional disruption. Third, ending hunger, translation of agricultural and biosystems

engineering approaches in sympathy with local conditions as a strong basis for development,

strengthening local infrastructure and supply chains, facilitating appropriate mechanization and

post-harvest systems that can link poor and smallholder farmers to the market. Next is meeting

the challenges of a low emissions world, understanding and tools to improve efficiency of

resource use, optimizing the management of crops and animals so emissions can be minimized

per unit of food delivered, and reducing the energy demands of vehicles and processes. And

lastly, maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services while feeding the world, coupling

understanding of the biological system and natural environment with the approach to production

management: e.g. better methods of targeting pesticides to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity

as production intensifies; and soil management machines and methods to sustain production,

maintain soil quality, and minimize pollution and flooding risk.4

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 Further, enhancement of food availability through mechanization and precision

agriculture5is one of the six themes that were developed at the Global Initiative Conference,

“Engineering and Technology Innovation for Global Food Security,” that convened October 24-

27, 2016, at Stellenbosch, South Africa, hosted by the American Society of Agricultural and

Biosystems Engineers (ASABE).5Agricultural mechanization is one of humanity's greatest

engineering achievements. Mechanization transformed agriculture from subsistence farming to a

major industry, laying the foundation for modern societies. Mechanization has vastly improved

the quality of our food and the efficiency of our farms while reducing the burden of manual

labor. Globally, however, less than 10% of all farm operations are performed by engine power,

25% of operations are performed by animal power, and fully 70% of all farm operations are still

performed by manual labor, mainly by women and children. In addition, nearly 70% of all farms

are small holdings (less than 1 ha), and 50% of these farm households are food insecure.5

Engineering is a critical component for helping to meet the challenges facing increased crop

production. In the early years of the Green Revolution, engineering made many technical

contributions to reduce drudgery and help increase labor productivity. The opportunity is for

contributing to an integrated system from field preparation all the way through the chain to end

users (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, 2019).

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers have, for some years, been discussing the present

and future position of their profession. Actions like changing the name of the higher education

institutes and title of the degrees to those more attractive and publicly well-known and

acknowledged terminology or converting the agricultural engineering to and/or merging more

with biological systems engineering were taken. However, besides these public awareness

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efforts, significant focus should also be given to how to realize their roles in sustainable rural

development as engineers of agriculture (Sindir, et. al., 2008). They should therefore;

• ensure an adequate and safe food supply for an expanding world population,

• manage and protect the world’s vital water, soil, air and energy resources,

• help people through contribution to food production, food quality and safety, food storage,

food processing, transport, packaging and marketing,

• help reduce the rural poverty and improve farmers’ welfare,

• help poor farmers raise their incomes by "face to face" contacts,

•avoid environmental degradation, conserve natural resources and control pollution,

• reduce drudgery of work carried out in rural life, ensure labour productivity whilst

enabling more timely operations for a better production.

It is important to note that young generations in both developed and developing countries

prefer living in urban areas and leaving parents on their own at rural activities. This limits the

sustainability of rural development that affected the development of the country (Sindir, et. al.,

2008).

It is now time for Agricultural and Biosystems engineers in the Philippines and others

around the world interested in Philippines’ economic development to come together and work

closely to develop a long-term strategy and agenda to promote education, research and practice

of agricultural engineering for agricultural transformation and overall sustainable economic

development in Philippines, in rural or urban areas. We must harness the power of Agricultural

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and Biosystems engineering to awake this sleeping economic giant (agriculture) to free the

millions of people locked into an abject poverty to be able to unleash Philippines' full food

security and sustainable development. The time to act is now, for the actions we take today form

the basis of history tomorrow. 7

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

IAgrE (2012), Agricultural Engineering: A Key Discipline for Agriculture to Deliver Global
Food Security. A Status Report, p.6.

Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures Project 8(2011). The Role of Agricultural and

Biosystems Engineering, p.98

Iowa State University (1995).Agricultural Engineering Careers: Is Agricultural Engineering

right for me? Retrieved from, https://www.abe.iastate.edu/undergraduate

students/careers/agricultural-engineering-careers/, October 19, 2019.

Esteban, S. (2015). Achieving Food Security: Policy Lessons from the Philippines.

Retrieved from, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?

abstract_id=2694223, October 19, 2019.

Caraga State University (2019). Bachelor Of Science In Agricultural And Biosystems

Engineering. http://carsu.edu.ph/?q=ceit-programs/bachelor-science-

agricultural- and-biosystems-engineering, October 20, 2019.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (2019). The problems of rural

areas in the region of south. Retrieved from

https://www.coursehero.com/file/

p101hasq/The-problems-of-rural-areas-in-the-region-of-South-eastern-Europe-

and-also/, October 20, 2019.

Wiggins, S. & Slater, R. (2011). Food Security and Nutrition: Current and Likely Future

Issues. Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures, p. 3. 8

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Sinder, K.O., Martinov, M., & Škaljić, S. (2008). The Role of Agricultural Engineers in

Sustainable Rural Development in SEE Countries. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47657970_The_role_of_agricultural

_engineers_in_sustainable_rural_development_in_SEE_South_Eastern_Europe_

countries, October 19, 2019.

World Food Summit (1996). Food Security: Definition & General Information. Retrieved

from https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/nutrition/foodsecurity/,

October 20, 2019.