BUTUAN CITY - Caraga region hosted the first training on Internal Control System (ICS) of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) on April 1-5, 2019 at VCDU Prince Hotel, South Montilla Boulevard, Butuan City.

It was attended by 28 High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) Focal Persons and representatives from the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Offices (DA-RFOs) and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)-Regional Training Centers.

The main purpose of the training was to create an ICS Standard Module for GAP that can be available for installation to farmers’ associations and cooperatives involving consolidation and processing of produced crops.

The mock field inspection was conducted at Mabuhay Kahayagan Coffee Growers Cooperative located at Brgy. Kahayagan, Tagbina, Surigao del Sur. Said inspection focused on best practices and problems encountered as well as identification of loop holes on the Cooperative’s quality control system. Gathered data was then used during the workshop in drafting of the module.

Aside from the crafted module, the participants were challenged to install the ICS to at least one Farmers Association or Cooperative in their respective region as part of their action plan. HVCDP Focal Persons of the ATI-RTCs and DA-RFOs will work together to accomplish the said action plan.

Representatives from Caraga region were Engr. Joel M. Laure and Rejane M. Ata from ATI-RTC 13 and Dailinda A. Mollanida and Cherryl B. Virtudazo both from DA-RFO 13.