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e-AGRIKultura stands for “Agricultural Growth thru Information and Knowledge Networking”. It is one of the components/ projects under the Knowledge Networking Towards Enterprising Agricultural Communities or K-AgriNet program, which was approved by the Commission on Communications and Information Technology (CICT)under the e-government fund.
e-AGRIKultura aims to improve agricultural productivity and establish practical area-based rural enterprise that would significantly raise farmers’ household incomes. It involves the establishment of e-community centers in selected rural areas for farmers, fisher folks and agri-business owners.
Through the use of information, communications, technology (ICT), these e-community centers are envisioned to provide access to:
- latest agricultural technologies
- market information
- customized knowledge
e-AGRIKultura will be implemented with direct assistance for a period of three (3) years involving six (6) ARC-based cooperatives located in Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) Farmer’s Center (KFCs) supported provinces of Philippines-Australia Technical Support for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (PATSARRD). These pre-identified provinces include:
- Aklan
- Agusan del Sur
- Bohol
- Misamis Occidental
- Northern Samar
- Surigao del Norte
e-AGRIKultura will operate with the following objectives:
- Build capacities of farmers/fisher folk/agribusiness entrepreneurs in accessing, retrieving and utilizing information relevant to farm enterprise operations and management;
- Generate participation and support of the community to the program
- Establish feedback and feed forward mechanism to strengthen informed and participatory decision making; and
- Promote the development of agro-based enterprises by maximizing the use of ICT-based information.
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e-AGRIKultura is designed to cater to the needs specific to its target areas/ communities. Initially, it has identified the components or activities to reach out to its target beneficiaries through ICT. These components include:
- Establishment and maintenance of six (6) fully operational E-AGRIKultura centers
- Development of six (6) area websites
- Development of training materials/modules and IEC/promotional materials
- Provision of appropriate training for E-AGRIKultura staff and users (beneficiaries)
- Community Preparation (social mobilization) for the E-AGRIKultura business entity
e-AGRIKultura, with its partnership with the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) Farmer’s Center (KFC), is envisioned to reach 3 million agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) by 2008. Initially, for the first 2 ½ years e-AGRIKultura will focus on the target beneficiaries of KFC of about 1.8 million.
The target beneficiaries will be the farmers, fisher folk and agribusiness owners/entrepreneurs in the areas/ communities where e-AGRIKultura/ KFC will be established. |
e-AGRIKultura is being implemented by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), as the lead consultant, together with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and its concerned units/ programs (i.e., DAR- Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development, PATSARRD and the KALAHI Farmers’ Centers) and regional/provincial offices (e.g. Agrarian Reform Communities) under the K-AgriNet program. |
| The Agencies/Institutions |
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The National Productivity Organization (NPO) spearheads the development of productivity consciousness and promotes the principles, techniques, and practice of quality and productivity in key sectors of the economy. |
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Bridging Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Towards realizing a better quality of life for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from the onset of agrarian reform, the Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development (BARBD) champions the advancement and proper observance of appropriate systems and procedures for higher agricultural productivity. |
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PATSARRD is an institutional strengthening and human resources development project that provides support to the implementation of the Philippine Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. It addresses rural poverty and provides assistance to DAR and local government units in involving farmer beneficiaries into the development planning processes as a way to facilitate delivery of support services and improve efficiency in resource allocation, and more directly to demonstrate means of improving access by the rural poor to improved technology, markets and microfinance. It also envisages a far greater involvement of the private sector to complement the services of the local government units and to improve market signals and linkages. |
| The Program |
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The program is a collaboration among four institutional players in agriculture, aimed at improving access to information and modern and indigenous technologies, and linking policymakers, researchers, service providers, markets, business organizations, and farm communities through the use of information, communications, technology (ICT). |
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| The e-Centers |
The e-AGRIKultura centers are envisioned to operate either as an Internet Café or any similar venture depending on the recommended appropriate structure or business model as a result of the site assessment and deliberation of the project’s Technical Working Group (TWG).
Initially, the e-AGRIKultura centers shall be provided with ICT equipment and peripherals necessary to start up a business such as: set of desktop computers, digital camera, multimedia projector and relevant softwares.
e-AGRIKultura centers are targeted to be set-up in selected cooperatives in six (6) identified areas, namely: a) Aklan; b) Bohol; c) Northern Samar; d) Misamis Occidental; e) Agusan del Sur; and f) Surigao del Norte. These centers shall provide the farmers, fisher folks and other target beneficiaries’ opportunity to communicate, network and collaborate in information dissemination related to farm operations. |
| Selecting the e-AGRIKultura Sites |
The e-AGRIKultura Project Team conducted site assessment to the pre-identified provinces to determine the most appropriate location and site to lodge the e-AGRIKultura centers and to determine the ICT readiness of the selected communities. |
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Using tools (survey form/ questionnaire) prepared and modified to provide the Project Team necessary information and data about the cooperatives and communities visited, the sites were evaluated and assessed in consideration of its strengths and weaknesses as potential project sites and based on the following criteria: |
Technical Feasibility |
55 % |
- ICT Infrastructure
- Architecture
- Equipment
- Accessibility of the location
- Proximity of site to service providers
- physical location
- technical capability and technical perception
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Organizational and Management Capability |
25 % |
- General info
- identified strength
- perception of organization on roles and responsibilities
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Financial Sustainability |
15 % |
- Cooperative operations
- potential for growth
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Market and Service Needs |
5 % |
- Information
- training and service needs
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Assessment Methodologies
- Document Review (Secondary Data)
- Survey
- Focused Group Discussion
- Key Informant Interviews
- Ocular Inspection (Selected sites)
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Target Respondents
- Kalahi Farmers Center (KFC) Managers and coordinators
- Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers
- KFC – TWG members (selected)
- ARB Organization Leaders and Members
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| Fast Fact about the Project Sites |
Tag-Osip MPC - Aklan |
LMPC - Bohol |
CPMPC-Northern Samar |
KINSARCO - Misamis Occidental |
ALMUCO - Surigao del Norte |
LAMCO - Agusan del Sur |
| No. of total coop members |
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518 |
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148 |
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169 |
| Number of household in the area |
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846 |
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849 |
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5711 |
| No. of existing earning enterprise |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
| Type/kind of enterprise |
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credit/lending, rice milling |
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consumer store (2), agri-inputs and trading, credit |
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credit, consumer store, agro forestry, agri inputs |
| Distance from Poblacion (using motorized vehicle) |
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15 mins |
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2 kms |
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20 kms |
| Proximity to KFC |
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30 mins |
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42 kms |
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27 kms |
| Proximity of coop to other coops |
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1 hour |
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4 km (gata daku) |
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4 kms |
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