FITS Centers To Be Established Province-Wide
By Marciano Paroy Jr.
Additional Farmers’ Information and Technology Services (FITS) Centers shall soon be established in the different municipalities of Kalinga, following the invitation sent out by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) to local government units.
FITS, as a depository of beneficial practices and technologies that are ready to be disseminated by experts, is a one-stop shop that would cater to the information needs of farmers and small-time entrepreneurs.
“During the meeting of FITS Managers in Baguio City last August 23, it was announced that all municipalities in the Cordillera are enjoined to apply for the establishment of LGU-based FITS Centers,” Dr. Jovita Saguibo, KASC Research Director, said during her interview with Radyo Ng Bayan-Tabuk on August 25.
At present, the province of Kalinga has only one FITS center and it is within KASC.
“Although it is academe-based, it has not stopped from performing the tasks it is mandated to attain,” thus said Jayla Sagpa-ey, a PCARRD evaluator who visited Tabuk again for the August 24-26 round of evaluation. “The purpose of this final round of evaluation, although FITS-KASC has already been awarded as the best in the region, is to look into other areas that would be presented during the presentation of all Best FITS Centers when PCARRD calls for a national forum in November. FITS of KASC shall then be featured alongside other Best FITS Centers from each region.”
The overall finding, however, of PCARRD is that: FITS Centers based in LGU’s are better-off than Centers based in State Colleges and Unversities (SUCs).
“Which makes the KASC-FITS truly exceptional because it is SUC-based, yet it is a working FITS, unlike other SUC-based Centers,” Junel Tagarino, the other evaluator, said.
“Still, PCARRD would like to push for FITS Centers established and maintained by LGU’s” Dr. Saguibo said. “So, what we can do is to help the LGU’s along this line, since we are already miles ahead with our Center. All they have to do is to send a letter of intent to the regional office of the Highland Agriculture and Resources Development Research and Development Consortium (HARRDEC) before August 31 – which they can course through KASC-FITS.”
With this initiative, KASC-FITS hopes to assist farmers, producers, input suppliers and local government units improve or develop their websites, which could be linked to FITS websites. This would enhance the dissemination of important information such as the availability of agricultural products, production inputs, component technologies and expert services.
If each municipality would log-on to this opportunity, the prime commodity of the town would be given priority – for instance, Corn for Rizal, Citrus for Balbalan, Banana for Pinukpuk, and so on.
Ms. Sagpa-ey and Mr. Tagarino visited Balong last August 24 where they interviewed farmers. On the 25th, they visited the regular radio program of KASC at the Radyo ng Bayan. And on the 26th, they capped their visit by singling out one farmer from Bulanao to be interviewed.
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