The Province of Quirino will be the first to implement the Province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System (PAFES) in the Cagayan Valley Region.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar, Department of Agriculture (DA) in Cagayan Valley Regional Director Narciso Edillo, and Quirino Governor Dakila Cua formally launched the PAFES Program at the Provincial Capitol on September 4, 2021.
“We would like to believe that this partnership will continue to grow. We believe that there is no other better way in really helping the farmers and fisherfolk than to work together as really good partners,” Secretary Dar said.
He added that the DA will be there to articulate and steer the national directions, but doing the rowing based on the national directions will be the lead responsibility of the local government units (LGUs).
“Ang liderato po sa pagpapatakbo at pag-develop ng isang probinsiya ay nasa liderato ng ating gobernador at ng Sangguniang Panlalawigan,” the secretary said.
According to him, the DA is now more ready to make it possible for every province nationwide to implement the PAFES starting in 2022 after piloting the program in at least one province per region.
“Itong PAFES na ang iiral na sistema sa pag-develop ng isang lalawigan kasi ang DA hanggang regional office lang kami,” he said noting that the partnership of DA with LGUs also supports the enhanced implementation of the Devolution Act.
The PAFES Program is under the Consolidation Pillar of the “OneDA” Reform Agenda in Transforming Philippine Agriculture. It is being institutionalized to bring extension services to the grassroots level and strengthen the collaborations of DA with the LGUs, academe, and private sector.
For Governor Cua, agriculture is the economic pillar of development in the Province of Quirino.
“With your leadership, we are certain that we will survive the tides and revive our agricultural economy here in the whole region of Cagayan Valley, especially here in Quirino,” he said about the visit of Secretary Dar.
The DA Regional Office has allotted P80 million for Quirino. Through the DA-Philippine Rural Development Program, completed enterprise and infrastructure development projects in the province amount to P590 million.
During the event, the PAFES Program implementers, recipients, and partners committed to support the “OneDA” Agenda and its programs, projects, and activities. They also pledged to utilize modern approach on PAFES by intensifying technology transfer, creating more livelihood, encouraging pluralistic institutional arrangements, and capacity-building towards market-driven products with digitally enabled tools.
With the implementation of the PAFES, the province serves as an extension hub that synchronizes agricultural plans and programs as well as orchestrates the activities of the various stakeholders. DA will co-plan, co-invest, co-implement, and co-monitor priority projects in the provinces, particularly as they embark on commodity specializations to maximize comparative advantage. ### (Gumamela Bejarin, DA-AFID)
