Mark Lester C. Gamboa, Agriculturist II of DA-RFO VI presenting the status of Rice Industry Situation in Western Visayas.
BANGA, AKLAN – “I believe in ATI because they gave us very good direction. This results in a great performance of Region 6. In Antique, we are 207% self-sufficient in terms of rice because ATI trained us well. Whatever happens, even there will be changes in the administration, we will still be together in helping our fisherfolks and farmers,” said Nicolasito S. Calawag, Provincial Agriculturist, OPA-Antique, one of the 22 participants who participated in the 2022 Rice Program Consultation and Planning Workshop held at ATI Training Hall, ASU Compound on March 16-17, 2022.
The participants of the said activity were composed of Provincial Agriculturists, Provincial Rice Program Coordinators, Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Program Coordinating Office (DA-APCO), DA Representatives, and ATI Learning Site Operators in the Region.
Each implementing agency presented its FY 2021 Accomplishments and FY 2022 Plans and Targets. Issues and concerns were also identified, discussed, and leveled off some workable solutions and recommendations. Updates and interventions were also shared to further improve the implementation of the said program.
Mark Lester C. Gamboa, Agriculturist II of DA-RFO VI also presented the status of Rice Industry Situation in Western Visayas. Based on his discussion, some of the major factors that influenced the low yield per unit area performance in the Region are as follows: the majority of the farmers will not take the risk in applying appropriate technology (right amount of farm inputs) during the first semester due to inadequate irrigation water and the ratio of farmer per agricultural extension worker is 201:1 that makes it difficult in providing extension services especially training/orientation with regards to good agricultural practices that could enhance farmers' capacity in boosting yield/production.
As an output, the participants did the workshop by identifying some proposed training/activities for FY2023-2025 for Rice Program.
