Despite being challenged by the pandemic, 3,164 rice farmers finished the three-month-long School-on-the-air program on Smart Rice Agriculture (SOA-SRA) “Makabagong Pagsasaka sa Himpapawid” of the Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Training Institute RTC 1.
The SOA SRA which started on August 10 has 20 episodes that tackled modern innovative technologies on Climate-Smart Rice agriculture. It was culminated through a ceremonial graduation on October 28 at ATI-RTC 1.
The farmer graduates from the 21 identified municipalities are those who completed the course requirements. Out of them, 27 have been awarded as top achievers who received cash prizes and certificates of awards.
The top 10 best performing graduates are:
- Rodolfo L. Garlejo, Jr. – Sto. Pangasinan
- Ferdinand M. De Guzman – Malasiqui, Pangasinan
- Constantino O. Estillore – Labrador, Pangasinan
- Billy Joey T. Briones – San Fabian, Pangasinan
- Rodrigo P. Patayan – Basista, Pangasinan
- Felicidad C. Villaruz – Alaminos City, Pangasinan
- Nancy Sabado – Burgos, La Union
- Rudante I. Bautista –Sinait, Ilocos Sur
- Michael Oximas – Binalonan, Pangasinan
- Mary Ann A. Yadao – Currimao, Ilocos Norte
Meanwhile, OIC-RED Nestor Domenden, hoped that thru the modern technologies shared, the farmers are empowered to produce a higher yield than their usual produce of 4 tons/ha.
On the other hand, Sec. William Dar in his prerecorded message as the Guest of Honor and speaker encouraged the graduates to utilize the knowledge and skills they gained during the program to further improve their yield produce, increase their income, and their way of living.
The SOA-SRA is part of DA’s efforts to achieve at least 2% production growth in rice this CY 2021.###
