DILIMAN, Quezon City—The Department of Agriculture (DA) officially welcomes the new director of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Alfredo Aton, as he takes the reigns and steers the bureau in expanding its services nationwide.

In a short ceremony at the DA head office, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol swore in Aton as the ATI’s Director IV. ATI division chiefs and training center superintendents were present and showed their full support as they witnessed the oath-taking rites.

After the ceremony, Piñol sat down with Aton and the rest of the ATI delegation for a quick dialogue. As he recognized the Institute’s achievements in the past few years, Piñol urged the group to reach out to more farmers and fishers by strengthening community outreach efforts.

He furthered that the ATI needs to intensify its information campaign on various farming technologies to offer farmers more options in increasing farm productivity.

The DA chief also instructed ATI officials to lead in the development of instructional materials on agriculture and fisheries and continue the promotion of new technologies, together with other agencies like the Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Animal Industry, among others.

Aton’s oath-taking ceremony was held on January 23, 2019 at the Office of the Agriculture Secretary in this city.