Department of Agriculture-Cordillera (DA-CAR) OIC-Regional Executive Director Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan has called on provincial agriculture extension workers representing the different banners and special programs of the department to continue to extend their services to the farmers in the different municipalities in the region.
In the recent Provincial Management Committee Meeting where the OIC-RED met with the participants in Bangued, Abra, she explained the department’s recognition of the agriculture extension workers’ role through the presentation of new knowledge and ideas introduced to rural areas which seeks to bring about change and improve the lives of farmers and their families.
“There are issues that the agriculture extension workers have presented with regard to the Magna Carta for Agriculture Extension Workers (AEW), I think that this is part of your narrative because you cannot expect the national government or congress to have these discussions. But the Magna Carta recognizes the role of agricultural extension workers as the forefront in food security,” Dawayan said.
AEWs are primary workers on the ground, serving farmers associations, disseminating information of various technologies, and providing other agricultural assistance. AEW’s are also assigned to gather production data and provide updates to the regional agriculture office.
Atty. Dawayan pointed out that at present, the House of Representatives is in the process of finalizing the contents of the Magna Carta for Agriculture Extension Workers that would resolve problems encountered by the AEW’s particularly on human development, political maneuvering, and the lack of financial support by some Local Government Units (LGU) to the agriculture sector.
“This is directly proportional or parallel to how you perform your duties. You may be able to help but you are not capacitated which would show that you are not competent. The Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) is leading at the national scale in proving trainings for our AEW’s for them to be competent in the delivery of services to the farmers,” the OIC-RED stated.
The OIC-RED also encourages the AEW’s of Abra to make use of the digital platform available on the internet in their work by using it not only as an intervention tool, but as a planning tool that would improve the delivery of services to the farmers.
“On data gathering, digitalization is one of the major programs being endorsed by President and Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand Marcos Jr., we should consider the use of digital technology for us to gather accurate data which will help us determine the particular support to our farmers. As we register farmers to the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture or RSBSA, we are able to determine what specific intervention we can provide by using digital technology not only as an intervention tool but as a planning tool,” OIC-RED Atty. Dawayan added.
