TRAINED FARMERS. Over a thousand farmers completed their 16-week School-on-the-Air studies facilitated by the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture in Butuan City on Tuesday (Oct. 17, 2023). The farmers will then serve as information multipliers who will help spread new technologies in rice and coconut production. (Photo courtesy of DA-13)
BUTUAN CITY – At least 1,629 farmers who recently graduated from the School-on-the-Air (SOA) program of the Agricultural Training Institute in the Caraga Region (ATI-13) will be tapped to help disseminate knowledge and information on Smart Rice Agriculture (SRA) in the region.
“These (trained) farmers have undergone 16 weeks of SOA at one hour per week over a carrier radio station,” Jason Jampac, ATI-13 media production specialist, said in an interview Wednesday.
The farmers, coming from the four provinces in the region, have completed their SOA courses last week until Tuesday.
Aside from the ATI-13 – an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) – the SOA program is jointly led by the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
Jampac said the SOA is focused on SRA, a training on rice production with topics on climate change, whose “technology allows our farmers to opt for rice varieties that are resilient to the varied climate conditions in the provinces.”
The SOA, he added, also imparted knowledge on coconut production and inputs on the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to the farmers.
He noted that as information multipliers, the farmers can serve as knowledge hubs in their communities by sharing their learnings on SRA with the other farmers. (PNA)
