More than 200 farmers and agricultural extension workers attended the activity aimed primarily on creating awareness on current programmes of the Department of Agriculture (DA) anchored on the Agri-Pinoy Framework.

It also aims to reach out to the farmers and fishermen of the fourth to sixth class municipalities in Laguna through consultations and open fora to evaluate their needs and concerns and address them together with the attached agencies of the department.

ATI 4A intends to cover 10 more municipalities for the conduct of said activity until July, this year. According to ATI 4A representative Maritess Cosico, municipalities were selected based on their production potential economic status, accessibility to DA’s programmes and services, and their location.
“These towns were identified to have a great potential for agricultural development, however, they lack access to DA’s interventions, remotely located and belong to a low income class, either a fourth, fifth or sixth class municipality,” she explained.

Important agri-related topics were presented such as sustainable agriculture, climate change, crop and livestock integration, and the Palaycheck system along with exhibits on technologies and projects; display of information, education and communication (IEC) materials made available to the participants by the Farmer’s Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center of the provincial agriculture office and an open forum which gave the participants an opportunity to consult their concerns with the experts and specialists from the DA regional office and its attached agencies.

DA 4A’s attached agencies represented during the Agri-Pinoy Technical Briefings and Technokliniks were the National Food Authority (NFA), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), and Regional Crop Protection Center (RCPC).