This year’s School-on-the-Air (SOA) on Smart Rice Agriculture (SRA) has produced 2,142 graduates. These are from Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, and Agusan del Sur.

The mass graduation was conducted in three sites: October 12, 2023, for Surigao del Norte graduates held at the Provincial Convention Center, Surigao City with 554 graduates; October 17, 2023, for Agusan del Norte held at the Balanghai Hotel and Convention Center, Butuan City, with 879 graduates; and, on October 23, 2023, at the Naliyagan Ground, Patin-ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur with 709 graduates.

 The graduates received their certificates of completion, while top-performing graduates per municipality received tokens. Municipal SOA coordinators and resource persons also received certificates of appreciation and tokens.

The program succeeded with the support of the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 13, Philippine Rice Research Institute – Agusan Station comprised of the Technical Working Group, and the Provincial Local Government Units through the Provincial Agriculture Office of Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, and Agusan del Sur.

The SOA-SRA aimed to 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.