As the Department of Agriculture (DA) gears towards digital transformation in its agricultural services, the Office of the Undersecretary for Administration and Finance conducted a Seminar-Workshop on Automated Government Service Management System for the regulatory agencies under the Department.
The five-day workshop, which kicked off in Cavite today, November 8, aims to help its regulatory officers streamline and harmonize government processes, procedures and requirements through digitalization and automation. It seeks to capacitate DA personnel by presenting thoughts, concepts, studies, and best practices to modernize the current agricultural services.
The activity is in support of RA 11032 or An Act Promoting Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services.
“My fellow government servants, welcome to one of our efforts to address a critical predicament of our farmers and fisherfolk: slow, manual, and inefficient procedures and processes in the government,” Undersecretary Roldan Gorgonio said.
Gorgonio, who is also the Chairperson of Ease of doing Business, Transparent Procurement, and Digital Agriculture Upscaling of DA, stressed that the Department seeks to craft efficient and effective systems that will simplify, streamline and harmonize procedures, requirements and at the same time, maximize the use of existing technology for continued effective and more efficient government service delivery to the public.
“Shifting to digital and automated processes will allow us to meet the demands with quality and speed. As the core of this endeavor, we will produce frameworks and operational models to turn concepts into workable solutions,” he added.
In a video message, Agriculture Secretary William Dar stressed that modernization is necessary for the development of Philippine agriculture.
“Agriculture is a business and digitalization is the disruption to which all businesses must adapt to remain competitive,” he said.
The Secretary added that the DA aims to cut the cost throughout the Philippine agriculture industry in an inclusive way, while enhancing productivity, uplifting rural people from poverty, improving livelihood, and increasing farmers’ income. ### (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
