LOS ANGELES, Butuan City- The two (2) batches of the Digital Farmers Program (DFP) 101 was successfully conducted in the municipality of Buenavista and city of Butuan, Agusan del Norte on November 10 and 11, 2020, respectively.

This was spearheaded by the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) 13 through its Information Services Section (ISS).

The DFP 101 aimed at encouraging and teaching farmers to utilize their smartphones, the internet, various agricultural apps, and social media market in boosting their farming productivity. They were also taught with the internet safety basics along with the tips on how they can protect themselves from possible scams.

The said activity is in collaboration with Smart Communications Incorporated. This was participated by the farmers and youths in pairs. In Buenavista, there were nine farmers and nine youths joined in while Butuan City hit the target participants of twenty, ten farmers and ten youths.

Lectures and discussions is all about smartphone 101, accessing the internet, internet safety basics, agri apps and introduction to social media marketing. Resource Persons were Mr. Fil Victor Babanto and Ginalyn V. Arbutante both from ATI-RTC 13, IS Section.

Participants also enjoyed their hands-on activities specifically in exploring their individual smartphones at hand. They were able to install various agri apps and gained knowledge on social media marketing and a lot more.

Overall, the two- day activity of the DFP 101 was worthwhile as it ended with a meaningful messages expressed from the selected ones through their impressions.

“At first I have no interest about farming but now, I learned that the youth has a great role in agriculture towards a sustainable future. I hope that there will be more activities and training opportunities for us to participate so that we can also share our knowledge and skills to others” said Angelique P. Omay. She was a youth participant of the DFP 101 held in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte on November 10, 2020.