To harmonize efforts that will better support the agricultural sector in the region, the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera (DA-CAR) initiated a coordination meeting with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)-CAR at the NIA regional office in Wangal, La Trinidad, Benguet on May 6 this year.
The activity aimed to synchronizing agricultural activities of both departments to improve production and yield of farmers’ and fishers’ in the Cordillera. DA-CAR Regional Executive Director Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan underscored the importance of coordination between the two agencies for the timely distribution of production support to farmers by the DA, and the scheduling of water release for the dry and wet planting seasons.
“Our intention for this coordination meeting is to inform you on our set dates of distribution between the suppliers and DA, so that the distribution of seeds like IOF, bio-fertilizers, and soil ameliorants would be done in one delivery because of the requirements to be made. This initiative of the department seeks to help farmers maximize crop output during the period between the dry and wet season, and to significantly improve production and service delivery to our farmers,” Dir. Dawayan said.
Prior to the coordination meeting, Dir. Dawayan met with the DA-CAR Regional Agricultural Engineering Division (RAED) and the Field Operations Division (FOD) to come up with initiatives in response to the forecasted normal rains in the following months, thereby providing enough water for farmers in the region who will be encouraged to plant early prior to the on-set of typhoons during the rainy season.
NIA-CAR Regional Manager Benito Espique Jr. provided DA-CAR with the needed information on the present irrigation systems in the region and status in the provinces.
“Our meeting with the officials of DA-CAR headed by Director Dawayan is very timely because we can now strengthen our coordination by sharing timely and pertinent information with regard to the scheduled releasing of water in the different water systems in the region that would assist farmers in their planting schedules, reconciling RSBSA and Irrigators Association (IA) data with regard to Intervention Monitoring Cards (IMC) and other services under IMC, access to financial loans and assistance coming from partners agencies, aside from other resource services of both agencies supporting the agricultural sector,” Espique stated.
Dir. Dawayan also informed NIA on the current initiatives of the DA with regard to the clustering and consolidation activities under the F2C2 program to enable farmers and fishers to attain economies of scale, achieve cost-efficient production, harvest, processing and marketing eventually increasing their incomes. By JTLlanes
