As we are conducting our regional consultations for the establishment of the Farmers Contact Center, we heard from our partners in the field their various ideas, perspectives, suggestions and comments on opening a new mode of communication with our clients. Some accepted the idea, some though may have doubts if this is really possible, if we can do it, if it would be acceptable to everybody. Though the idea of this initiative is evolving, we are open to whatever will come our way and we will try to fit it if we can to whatever we do.

So from a mere idea of putting up a Farmers Call Center, we now recognize the possible means to integrate as well all electronic modes of communication such as email, text, chat, among others. So we are now pushing towards the establishment of a Farmers' Contact Center instead.

There are a lot of initiatives using ICT as a tool. There are a lot of sort of one-stop center, regional centers, e-Centers that were and are being put up by other institutions. To clarify some of the aspects in relation to the Farmers' Contact Center, we would like to note that our Contact Center will not replace nor compete with the established centers in the field but instead will work hand in hand with them as our linkages when we extend our services with our clients in their area of coverage. The Farmers' Contact Center will be an alternative mode where our clients in the agriculture and fisheries sector can also avail the services of the Department of Agriculture through electronic means.

So establishing the Farmers Contact Center is not establishing another office actually, but just sort of a Call Center that would be accepting not only queries through calls, but also through text, email, chat and other electronic modes.

So we say, it's another mountain to climb, to face all the challenges to initiate this kind of scheme. The peak of the mountain may be too high for us to reach, but if we work together and aim for a common goal, reaching the top is much easier.