Oriental Mindoro – Young ones and once young. These were the terms used during the conduct of Digital Farmers Program 102 referring to youth and farmer participants. Youth representatives assisted their farmer partner in the workshop sessions and hands-on exercises.

DFP 102 is the second level of three-level program that aims to encourage farmers to utilize technologies in farming. This course particularly focuses on in-depth applications and usage of social media and smartphones.
This September, 5 batches of DFP 102 was conducted in the region with 104 graduates. Participants were from the municipalities of Bongabong, Pola, Bulalacao, Mansalay and Roxas who have attended the DFP 101 last year.

During the training, the participants were oriented about advanced agri-apps such as SPIDTECH and the Plant Doctor that provides quick diagnostic guides and help identify plant diseases. QR code scanning and generation were also discussed as it would be helpful for them to share and receive information promptly and efficiently. App like Canva was introduced to familiarize easy-to-use online editing tool to help farmers create engaging social media contents for their online business pages. DFP 102 also opened the possibility of incorporating e-commerce to farmers’ businesses as they shared about various e-commerce platforms and how farmers can sell their products online. PayMaya was also introduced encouraging farmers to go cashless during their transactions. After lectures and workshops were conducted. Participants were able to create their own Facebook business pages, posted social media content, and prepared their own social media marketing plan.

Participants were very positive on the digital awareness brought by DFP despite the limits and some setbacks of face-to-face learning due to pandemic.