Technology commercialization key to raising farmers' incomes - Yap

Technology commercialization is the key to raising farmers’ incomes, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said yesterday.

Commercializing technology would sharpen the competitiveness of the domestic farm sector, Yap said adding that the DA is focusing on four essentials.

These are market research, research and development (R&D), extension and capital.

Yap said technology commercialization is crucial to rural development because “value-adding plays an important role in providing higher income to farmers. By increasing the uses and values of our agricultural products, we are also improving the income of our farmers.”

“We have to have something with added value or something different to offer,” he said.

Market research, according to Yap, is important “because it determines what the market wants and monitors what the competitors are doing or offering. He said the DA, has established various trade desks to conduct market research and monitor what neighboring countries are doing.

Such efforts are being done by the DA in cooperation with the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

After finding out what the market wants, Yap said, the DA has to pursue R&D “to enable the industry to generate new products necessary for agricultural productivity.”

The DA has instructed the Bureau of Agricultural Research to forge ties with the Centers of Excellence in regions that have the technical expertise and competence to conduct R&D.

“We need to push the BAR into developing partnerships with regional and localized centers and even with SUCs (state universities and colleges) that have technical capabilities that the DA can utilize,” Yap said.

Complementing R&D, Yap said, is extension work to bring down the new technologies faster and more effectively to the end-users who are the farmers.

The last, most important factor is capital, Yap said, adding “at the end of the day, the question boils down to one thing: Will it be funded?”

Yap said the DA has been pushing the speedy commercialization of new and emerging technologies in the agriculture and fisheries sector by pouring more funds into extension work and R&D.