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Archives
March 1-31, 2007
BAR to restructure weak framework in Philippine agri
by Ellaine Grace L. Nagpala
A house built on a weak framework could not possibly stand strong through time and may eventually collapse when disaster occurs.
The same rationale also applies with the structure of the Philippine Agriculture as implied by Dr. Manuel Bonifacio, technical adviser of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), in the presentation of the proposed project of BAR to be funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) held on March 13 at the RDMIC conference hall.
“The weakness of Philippine Agriculture is the inadequacy of concretion in operating without an appropriate framework,” Dr. Bonifacio said.
During the presentation, Dr. Bonifacio described the demography of Philippine Agriculture with its aging farmers, weak support systems, unwillingness of young people to engage in agriculture, and high costs of production inputs. He added that the nature of agriculture production is fragmented and that the research and extension aspects in the country are weak.
In the proposed project of BAR titled “Building Development-Oriented Community of Practice: The Making of the New Philippine Agriculture”, the need for a new and timely framework to address such problems on agricultural development was recognized.
A community-based, system-oriented, complementary and participatory framework that is grounded on the needs and practice of the farmers is the ideal framework BAR visualizes. Dr. Bonifacio, as the presenter of the project stressed that the focus and key to the proposed project is capturing and improving the practices of the farmers.
Generally, the objective of the program is to improve the standard living of small farmers in the rural areas by restructuring their agricultural practices through the enhancement of the farmer’s access to knowledge, technology and services to meet the goals of agribusiness development.
Specific aims of the project includes the following: (1) document, develop, and disseminate local, scientific, and technical agricultural information; (2) promote sustained access of farmers to knowledge and information covering agricultural practices, markets and agricultural service providers; (3) connect rural communities, research and extension networks and provide them access to the much needed knowledge, technology, and services; and (4) guide the development of community of practice from enterprise to agribusiness development.
The proposed project also includes consolidation of community practice that is believed to be essential in restructuring the framework of Philippine Agriculture. The consolidation of community practice will be done to combine the utility of best practice with the innovations as well.
Dr. Bonifacio added that established practices of farmers will be discovered through communication and must be documented as the real foundation of the new Philippine Agriculture. He also stressed the importance of efficient information dissemination regarding researches on agriculture as it provides quick access on information to farmers which they can use to integrate with their established practices.
With hopes to achieve its goals, activities such as community-based consolidation of positive and productive production practices, empowering farmer’s organization by strengthening their management skills, effective management of agricultural information through information and communication technology and through the development of electronic cooperative information resources center will be employed.
With the implementation of the project, it is expected that a knowledge database on agriculture that will serve as a rich source of information for building multi-level community of practice and a replicable model of an electronic cooperative agricultural resource information center will materialize. Moreover, it is also envisioned that through the proposed project, a well- informed community of farmers and an increased income of farm families in participating barangays through agriculture and complementary livelihood activities—moving from enterprise development to agribusiness development—will arise.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ken Menz, Research Program Manager of ACIAR, suggested that the proposed project of BAR be linked to the Landcare project of ACIAR in Mindanao to facilitate easier approval of the proposal. He added that the framework of the proposal can be adopted in the Mindanao project.
An affirmative response was given by BAR on both suggestions of Dr. Menz. However, problems on the differences of the conceptual framework were identified by Dr. Bonifacio—the approach of Landcare is more on conservation agriculture while the approach of the proposed project of BAR is toward agribusiness development. To resolve the conflict on conceptual framework, Dr. Bonifacio requested copies of the project papers on the Landcare project of ACIAR so he could review these and suggest a new framework for action. 
March 1-31 2007 Articles:
:: CPAR consultation in 10 poorest provinces kicks-off in Masbate
:: Sec. Yap signs AO for CPAR implementation
:: Yap encourages vegetable industry towards profit and market promotion
:: Corn RDE sets directions and priorities for the next 5 years
:: PhilRice conducts training on producing crop suitability maps
:: BAR Assistant Director Solsoloy keynotes URS graduation
:: Increasing the intellectual property rights awareness
:: IP Management Seminar establishes partnership
:: 3rd BAR Seminar Series highlights modern biotechnology
:: BAR to restructure weak framework in Philippine agri
:: On promoting exportable agricultural products
:: International funding agency consults BAR on possible tie-up
:: OPAPA launches e-Learning program for AFNR sector
:: Setting R&D directions for community of practice
:: Establishing solid innovation policy for effective R&D technology transfer
:: BAR staff members attend e-gov project management seminar
:: JICA Philippines conducts workshop on agriculture/fishery technology development and extension
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