The DA Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo (4K) Program, in collaboration with the Project Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines (Project SARAi), conducted a training on Smart Farming: Technologies and Benefits for Agriculture in the Ancestral Domain from 22-24 November 2023 at Eurotel, North EDSA.
This 3-day training aimed to introduce and capacitate the participants on selected SARAi systems and technologies. The activity was participated by the DA 4K-National Program Management Office staff and Regional Project Management Office (RPMO) focal/technical staff with the Indigenous Peoples youth representatives from different regions of the country.
The 4K Program Director, Lucia A. Campomanes, CESO IV emphasized the essential role of Project SARAi in facilitating technological advancements of agriculture in the country and the essential role of the youth of indigenous people in improving agriculture in their own ancestral domain.
The training was packed with a series of lectures and demonstrations led by Dr. Decibel V. Faustino-Eslava, Project SARAi Integration Leader, that is to say: How to navigate the different technologies, systems, and advisories in the Project SARAi Knowledge Portal (https://sarai.ph/) by SARAi Project Staff, Asst. Prof. Aldrin J. Hao; Smarter Pest Identification Technology or SPIDTECH, a mobile application that can identify pests and diseases of the SARAi nine priority crops by Mr. Gideon Aries Burgonio, SARAi Project Staff and a Researcher from the National Crop Protection Center; Lecture on the stages of banana, its planting recommendations, and the Banana Harvest Date Calculator or BanaTech by SARAi Project Staff and Faculty of UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science, Asst. Prof. Dara Fabro-Realin; Coffee and Cacao production by SARAi Expert, Dr. Calixto M. Protacio through a recorded video presentation.
The participants are expected to apply the skills they learned from the training to effectively share and use the technology in their respective Indigenous Cultural Communities.