State U’s to help DA provide extension services

The Department of Agricultural (DA) will work with state colleges and universities (SUCs) to provide much needed extension services to farmers to raise the country’s food productivity.

The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), as the lead agency for research and development (R&D) of the DA, will hold a consultation on the possible partnership between the DA and SUCs on collaborative extension service on Wednesday, May 21 at the Edsa Shangrila Hotel.

The DA-SUC collaborative extension service is needed to hasten the transfer of technologies and educate and equip farmers with knowledge for effective access and use of information that would lead to improved agricultural productivity and competitiveness.

The collaborative extension service will be coordinated by BAR and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) at the national level, and with the DA-Regional Field Units (RFUs) at the regional level.

Seventy-eight SUCs have been identified and recognized as possible partners in the R&D component of the fertilizer, irrigation, education and training of farmers, loans, dryers and other post-harvest facilities and seeds of high-yielding varieties (FIELDS) program.

The SUCs will take the initiative in providing farmers education and training to increase their yield and lower their production costs.

The main objective of the consultation is to determine, plan and execute working arrangements that the DA and the SUCs will adopt to provide farmers with the latest technologies that will further increase production and reduce production cost. Critical R&D activities and extension services needed by the farmers will be identified and prioritized.

Additionally, establishment of potential networks of regular agricultural extension offices based in SUCs will be discussed.

Participants to the meeting on Wednesday would include the DA Secretary, directors and administrators of the DA attached agencies/bureaus, DA RFUs regional executive directors, Regional Integrated Agricultural Research Center (RIARC) managers, DA Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional directors, SUC presidents and extension directors and experts from different partner R&D agencies/institutions.

The framework of the DA-SUC collaborative extension service will be presented by Dr. Emil Q. Javier, National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) president and the DA Secretary’s Technical Advisory Group (STAG).