With access to digital agriculture, farmers could increase their agricultural productivity and income. It is one of the government’s goals of advancing the agriculture industry’s adoption of more advanced forms of technology in farming.
In support of this, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) MIMAROPA in partnership with Smart Communication intensifies its campaign and promotion of digital technologies by conducting Training of Trainers (TOT) on the Digital Farmers Program (DFP) in the region.
The second batch of TOT DFP was conducted at Magsaysay Hillside Resort, Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro on August 10-11, 2022. It was attended by 25 Farmer Leaders (FL) and Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) from the municipalities of Magsaysay, San Jose, Rizal, Calintaan, Sablayan, Santa Cruz, and the Office of the Provincial Agriculture.
On the first day, the Resource Persons (RPs) discussed the topics of Smartphone 101, Accessing the Internet, Mobile Applications, Internet Safety Tips, Basic Agri Apps, and Basic Social Media Marketing. To make sure that no one was left behind, the farmer participants were assisted by the AEWs during the workshops particularly on accessing and navigating e-Learning, Payong Pagasa, and GPS Field Measure applications.
The second day of the training focused on the lectures on Advanced Agri Apps, Advance Social Media Marketing, e-Commerce Platforms, and Online Transactions using PayMaya. The topics of Quick Response (QR) Code Scanner and QR Code Generator were also explained by the assigned RP.
The highlight of the two-day training was the microteaching session. It aimed to prepare participants in implementing the DFP in their communities.
During the activity, the participants were grouped into ten with three (3) members in each group. Then, per group were given an assigned topic to present with an allotted time of ten (10) minutes. Each member was rated individually based on the criteria such as Clarity (25%), Presentation (25%), Delivery (25%,) and Timeliness (25%). Overall, all groups were able to discuss the topics included in the DFP.
Moreover, each municipality prepared a DFP rollout plan after the training. The said re-entry plans served as their commitment to the implementation of the DFP in their respective locality.
On his impression, Mr. Tyrone Neil Gasmin, Agricultural Technologist of Calintaan shared “May mga Agri applications na kailangan talaga namin i-explore para mas lalo namin maitindahan at maituro ito sa mga magsasaka. Katulong ninyo kami sa pagsasagawa ng DFP sa aming munisipyo, para maisakatuparan ang ating adhikain na maging techie ang ating mga magsasaka.”
In her message, Municipal Agriculturist Richard Ochavez represented by Ms. Fe Mina of the Municipal Agriculture Office-Magsaysay commended the efforts of the farmer participants in attending the TOT DFP. She congratulated them for their best efforts to comply with the requirements, particularly on the hands-on activities included in the training.
The said training was facilitated by Mr. Erlan D. Pasana, Information Officer II, Mr. Michael Daven T. Jugno, Project Development Assistant II, Mr. Mark Jayson S. Alcobera, Project Development Assistant II, and Ms. Cholie A. Mirhan, Project Development Assistant I of the Information Services Section of the ATI-MIMAROPA.
