BY MARCHEL P. ESPINA
The Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas is seeking funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for its Smart Agriculture System Project.
Remelyn Recoter, DA Region 6 director, presented the project virtually to KOICA officials recently, and said they discussed and evaluated the proposal which will be submitted to KOICA this month.
The proposal is set to begin in 2022 and will need multi-million funding from KOICA’s Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The SASP aims to increase agricultural productivity and income through smart agriculture farming system using the Information and Communications Technology based model, Recoter said.
It will also assess the region’s smart agriculture technology adoption, she said, adding the result will be utilized to craft a smart agriculture roadmap.
To effectively transfer the technologies down to the grassroots, the project will also include the capacity development component for agricultural extension workers and farmer intermediaries for the establishment of smart agricultural technology in lowland and upland areas with and without electricity, she explained.
Recoter said the SASP will be implemented in three phases, and that several units of smart greenhouses with nurseries and storage facilities for the top five high-value crop commodities in the region will be set up in the target provinces in the second phase of the project implementation.
The Regional Program Management Committee shall create a completion plan to ensure that SASP will remain operational and sustainable even beyond the project timeline, she said.*
