ATI Caraga opens e-learning to farmers

“Farmers or those who are interested in augmenting their income through farming can now avail of the free education and training by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Caraga by simply accessing www.e-extension.gov.ph.”

Director Asterio Saliot of the ATI-Central Office revealed this during the ATI-Caraga Octoberfest celebration at its regional center in Barangay Los Angeles, this city.

The web is part of the ATI’s effort to strengthen its capability in information communication technology (ICT) since it is the lead agency in the e-extension program for agriculture and fisheries.

Among the information offered by the ATI website are online courses on managing common diseases in banana, durian production and corn production.

Through the online course, farmer students can take their classes at their own pace and time. For a farmer student to be able to proceed through each module as well as ascertain that he has actually learned something, he or she needs to pass examinations for each module.

Also available in the web are farm and business advisory services. This covers the technical assistance or advices given to clientele along the operation of their farms or business related to agriculture, such as consultations, journals or handouts and database on farm business.

Other than the web, farmers could also used their cellphones to avail of this service. They can directly text their questions to extension workers or other experts in their respective areas. Experts in their areas will then answer their questions through text making information more readily available.

The ATI website also offers electronic trading, through this farmers can post their produce in the web. So a prospect or client will just browse through the web and order through the internet.

This means faster and more convenient business transactions as well as wider business coverage since the farmer’s produce would be available to almost everyone who has access to the internet.

ATI Caraga also offers trainings on rice and corn production, corn and rice based farming systems, integrated pest management on rice, post harvest technology and seed production.

Training on bio-intensive gardening, cut-flower production and arrangement, banana production, coconut-based farming system, livestock including goat production, pig-raising, swine and poultry production as well as institutional capability development are also available.

ATI Caraga also boasts of demonstration sites showcasing new farming techniques and latest technologies in agriculture through Farms Family Approach on Resource Management for Sustainability (FFARMS).

ATI Caraga has a demo site on Sustainable System of Production Management for Rice (SSPM), bio-compost production, organic banana and vegetable orchard production. (PIA-Caraga)