A total of 504 farmers graduated from the School-on-the-Air (SOA) on Coconut Production conducted by the ATI-RTC 13 in coordination with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) – 13, and the Provincial Agriculture Offices of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and the Province of Dinagat Islands from June to September 2024.
The participating LGUs from the three provinces are Tagbina and Barobo, Surigao del Sur, with 205 graduates; the municipalities of Alegria, Bacuag, Gigaquit, Mainit, Malimono, Placer, San Francisco, Sta. Monica, Surigao City, Tagana-an, and Tubod, Surigao del Norte with a total of 246 graduates, and Basilisa, Cagdianao, Dinagat, and San Jose of the Province of Dinagat Islands with 53 graduates.
The culmination activities were hosted in three separate gatherings: October 18, 2024, at the Poblacion Gymnasium, Tagbina, Surigao del Sur; October 23, 2024, at the Provincial Convention Center, Capitol Compound, Surigao City; and October 29, 2024, at the Municipal Gymnasium, Cagdianao, Province of Dinagat Islands.
The graduates received their certificates of completion, while the top performing graduates per municipality received tokens in recognition of their performances. Meanwhile, municipal SOA coordinators and resource persons also received certificates of appreciation and tokens.
The graduates successfully finished all 16 episodes of the course over four months, equipping them with essential knowledge in coconut farming, such as the principles of Good Agricultural Practices to ensure the safety and quality of their produce and the certification process, intercropping and animal integration, pests and diseases management, coconut processing, among others.
Launched in June, the SOA was aired over 91.5 Radyo Serbato in San Jose, PDI from 5:00-6:00 am, RPN DXKS 1080 KHZ Radyo Ronda in Surigao City from 5:00-6:00am, and in Tagbina over DXRE 89.5 Metro FM, a one-hour per week program for 16 sessions.
This initiative highlights the strong collaboration between the local government units and the national government agencies to boost coconut production in the region.
