The Department of Agriculture (DA) is fast-tracking the development of a digital roadmap for the agri-fishery sector to accelerate the integration of digital technologies in the food value chain and logistics.
Around 10 million farmers nationwide are expected to be validated and registered using digital technology next year.
“By digitalizing agriculture, our farmers and fishers can achieve bigger yields of higher quality products, at a more cost-efficient and sustainable manner, and processing and marketing them swiftly via online,” said DA Secretary William Dar.
In a statement, Dar said the pandemic highlighted the need for continuous improvements in data science and technological innovation capability of farmers and fisherfolk to facilitate real-time and efficient recording of information and monitoring and evaluation reports.
Dar said DA’s Information and Communications Technology Service has started upgrading the agency’s management information system, including the farmers’ and fisherfolk’s registry system and the farmers’ interventions monitoring system (FIMS).
FIMS will apply a mobile geotagging technology to harmonize databases from regional field offices, bureaus, attached agencies and corporations apart from foreign- and locally-assisted projects.
The DA is also updating the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture which currently lists around 1.4 million farmers and serves as the initial basis of the DA in qualifying them for assistance programs.
