BRGY. LOS ANGELES, Butuan City- The Regional Technical Working Group (RTWG) of the School-on-the-Air (SOA) Program on Smart Rice Agriculture (SRA) recently conducted a coordination meeting at the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) 13 Office, Los Angeles, Butuan City on April 8, 2022.

The RTWG comprised representatives from the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) 13, Philippine Rice Research Institute-Agusan Experiment Station and ATI-RTC 13. Said meeting was also joined by the Farmcasters from the Provincial Agriculture Offices of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.

Ginalyn V. Arbutante, Information Officer II and SOA SRA Focal Person, presided the meeting. She presented the SOA-SRA overview. Among the agenda discussed are the issues and concerns and challenges faced during the first year’s implementation on the part of the Farmcasters and Coordinators. Roles and responsibilities of Partner Agencies and Local Government Units (LGUs) was also raised and identified.

The group had also set the schedules of briefings to the target provinces in May. Agusan del Sur will be on May 6, 2022. On the other hand, May 11, 12 and 13, 2022 will be in Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte, respectively. Broadcast schedule was also finalized by the RTWG during the meeting.

The SOA-SRA targeted 2,200 enrollees that will be divided by the five provinces in the region. Provincial Farmcasters at the same time SOA Coordinators have their individual targets and commitments in terms on the number of SOA enrollees per province. Launching of the program will be expected in June, 2022.

Dubbed as “Mga Bag-ong Teknolohiya sa Pang-humayan”, the SOA-SRA shall help catalyze agriculture modernization through the massive and sustained education of smallholder farmers and local intermediaries on modern and innovative technologies and approaches to smart rice production. It shall share cutting-edge technologies and innovative approaches to help maximize rice productivity in medium and low yield provinces through radio, amplifying the limited reach of agricultural extension workers.

ATI-Caraga’s OIC-Center Director Fil Victor A. Babanto welcomed everyone during the meeting. On the other hand, Jason Paul Dads E. Jampac, OIC-Chief of the Information Services Section (ISS) together with John Paul Abonitalla, Technical Staff also joined in.