2021, 1-year old news: On Facebook, Noel Ocampo Reyes shares the 20 Oct 2021 post by Angelica Marie T Umali, “Digital Farmers Program Claims 2021 PhilEASNet Outstanding Extension Project Award” (ATI.gov.ph). I congratulate the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), but I’m not sure I understand the extension process described!
2022 Nov: OpAPA & ATI extension projects & related activities relevant as ever.
The ATI award was declared during the “Virtual Philippine Extension and Advisory Services Network (PhilEASNet) Biennial AFFNR Extension Symposium” held 14-15 Oct 2021 via Zoom. The award was specifically for the Digital Farmers Program (DFP), an ATI project with Smart Communications Inc. Ms Angelica says:
The DFP is an information, communication, and technology-based capacity development program, aiming to help Filipino farmers access information online and improve their efficiencies and skills using digital technologies.
The program employs a three-course digital literacy sequence, covering from basic digital tools such as smartphone and social media to more complex services such as e-commerce and online payment systems. Moreover, (the) DFP aims to provide an avenue to promote and maximize the use of existing agriculture-focused digital tools and applications developed by both government and private institutions.
I note specially: The DFP emphasizes the digital information & communication technologies (ICTs) useful for accessing information online and improving agri-related skills. I ask pertinently: “Are Filipino farmers ready for the DFP?”
Having an extension mind myself, having earned a degree of BS Agriculture major in Ag Edu (UP ‘65) and taught myself digital skills over the years, I now note that what is described and which received the award is basically the ICT tools – but there is no mention of any digital library, not any “Knowledge Bank.” Sadly, even with sophisticated ICT, farmers cannot access data & information that are notthere!
And so I go back to my favorite topic: the OpAPA that then-ICRISAT Director General William Darproposed 18 years ago through PhilRice – I have personal knowledge because I was hired as a consultant by then-PhilRice Executive Director Leo Sebastian; consequently, I wrote an original digital book detailing my OpAPA concept titled The Geography Of Knowledge (I still have a digital copy of that book, 198 pages).
Pertinently, IRRI has what it calls “Rice Knowledge Bank” (RKB) accessible digitally – an extensionist, I see that the RKB is simply several direct instruction guides or manuals – not offering technology options or procedural choices (see Rice Knowledge Bank,.knowledgebank.irri.org). Immediately, the RKB offers you “Step-By-Step Production” of rice! It does not, for instance, first compare hybrid rice varieties with one another so that the farmer can make his informed choice. A proper Knowledge Bank is an open book, not a Bible!
To my mind, any intelligent extension system provides the would-be user choices and options, points out opportunities, gives computations, and even presents lives of successful farmers. Anything less is not intelligent!@517
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