PATIN-AY, Agusan del Sur - The Agricultural Training Institute – Regional Training Center 13 in partnership with the Province of Agusan del Sur through the Provincial Agriculture and Veterinary Office (PAVO) will conduct the School-on-the-Air (SOA) Program on High-Quality Inbred Rice Seeds Production and Farm Mechanization in eight municipalities within the province.

During the briefing held on March 10, 2021, the Province of Agusan del Sur through the PAVO together with the Municipal Agriculturists and Coordinators pledged to support and participation to the SOA which will commence on June, 2021. They also agreed to appoint SOA coordinator per municipality to aid the provincial coordinator in enrollment, monitoring and all other aspects of the SOA implementation.

The activity was simultaneously conducted with a briefing for the implementation of SOA on Smart Rice Agriculture (SRA) which was spearheaded by the Information Services Section with its Chief, Fil Victor A. Babanto. It was also attended by Information Officer II Ginalyn V. Arbutante and Ressel Angelie Fetalsana, and RCEF Technical Staff John Paul Abonitalla.

The 480 target-enrollees of the SOA shall be comprised of farmers, youth, and other stakeholders from the municipalities of Esperanza, Sta. Josefa, La Paz, Veruela, Bunawan, Trento, Talacogon, and San Francisco, while the remaining LGUs will take part in the SOA on SRA.

Prior to the briefing, a coordination meeting was conducted last March 4, 2021 with PAVO-ADS Operations Division Chief Elena S. Bausing for initial agreements on the conduct of the SOA. (with the report of JPAbonitalla)