The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Cordillera together with the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) Cordillera and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Cordillera lead the first quarter PAFES meeting and presentation of 2024 PAFES proposal in the region. This was participated by the Provincial PAFES chairpersons and Provincial PAFES focals in the province of CAR.
With the completion of the requirements of the pre-implementation phase, each province is now implementing its Collaborative Provincial Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Program (CPAFEP). Last year, the ATI Cordillera received 10.5 million fund allocation from Rice for PAFES. In the implementation, the region focused on capacity building among the identified strategic extension support services: a. Agri-Fishery Enterprise Development, b. Location-Specific Techno Development and Demonstration, c. Capacity Building, d. Information/Knowledge Sharing (Advisory services), e. Social Mobilization and, f. Institutional Strengthening. For this year’s implementation, the region still focused on capacity building due to the limited PAFES fund.
Ms. Mae Kio-isen shared this year’s breakdown of budget allocation for PAFES from ATI-CAR with a total of 3.8 million and 6 million from DA-RFO-CAR. Through the complementation of both agencies, all provinces have a total fund share of more than 500,000.00. Also, the management of the fund allocation from ATI-CAR will be fund-transfer, except for the province of Abra, which will still be ATI-managed, while the DA-RFO-CAR fund, will be RFO-managed.
The epilogue of last year’s FY 2024 Planning Workshop has come to date of presentation. The six provinces have presented again their proposal to the province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System – Regional Program Management Office for assessment and evaluation of their proposal’s eligibility for funding.
The active engagement of everyone in the meeting room unlocks more discussions such as the planning of 2025 proposal. It was cited and noted by Mr. Charlie C. Sagudan the importance of the Learning sites as hosts for techno demo. Also, he informed the partner LGUs to inform their respective LCEs that ATI-RTC-CAR will be sending lists of Learning Sites existing in their respective jurisdictions. The recommendation of Engr. Beverly Pekas also to engenderize the PAFES activities, Ms. Jam R. Balingan shared brief information on how gender and development (GAD) is attributed in activities.//with reports from Jomar Guerzon, PAFES Staff
