‘K-AgriNet’ links farmers to the Web

Soon, farmers will no longer be strangers in the cyber world. Thanks to a government program, they can access the Internet’s vast information on agriculture.

Facilitating this is the Knowledge Networking Toward Enterprising Agricultural Communities Program (K-AgriNet), a collaborative venture of the Los Baños, Laguna-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP).

K-AgriNet aims to utilize information technology as a tool to fast-track the dissemination of agriculture and natural resources information and technologies to farmers, upland dwellers, and rural entrepreneurs.

It has four components being carried out individually by its institutional proponents.

PCARRD handles the e-Consortia and e-Farm projects; DA-PhilRice, through its Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OAPA), the e-Learning component; and DAR and DAP, e-Agriculture.

The e-Consortia and e-Farm, according to PCARRD, are expected to enable electronic access to information technology and other services in 80 Farmers’ Information and Technology Services (FITS) centers in strategic parts of the country in partnership with the 14 PCARRD-coordinated government regional research and development (R&D) consortia.

FITS is a one-stop information shop or service facility that aims to improve people’s access to information.

Dr. Patricio Faylon, PCARRD executive director, said FITS is a component of Technology Gabay, the council’s banner program for technology transfer and promotion in the agriculture, forestry, and natural resources sectors.

Dr. Bessie Burgos, director of PCARRD’s Technology Outreach Program, said 175 FITS centers have been put up across the country.

The e-Farm component focuses on establishing the online connectivity of PCARRD’s FITS, enabling databases and other ICT applications via the Web, strengthening the capability of FITS staffers and other extension workers, pushing PCARRD’s Nagsasaka Siyentista and small and medium enterprises toward e-commerce, and expanding market linkages through e-trade services.

The e-Learning component, led by DA-PhilRice’s OAPA, focuses on e-extension and distance learning for agricultural extension workers.

On the other hand, the e-Agriculture component, led by DAR and DAP, mobilizes agrarian reform communities into the program.