State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies said that more incentives should be given to agricultural extension workers (AEW) to motivate them to reach farmers in far-flung areas.
During an online webinar, PIDS Supervising Research Specialist Ivory Myka R. Galang noted that AEWs play a crucial role in minimizing the digital divide among Filipino farmers but are often discouraged because of fewer incentives.
“Nakita po natin sa study is kulang yung number mismo ng AEW sa bansa and yung mismong incentives for them to actually go out, pumunta sa pinaka remote na area, ‘di ganon kataas yung incentives na binibigay sa kanila,” Galang said.
[In the study, we observed that the number of AEWs in the country is insufficient, as well as the incentives provided to them to actually go out and reach the most remote areas. The incentives given to them are not very high]
“Sila yung susi para maabot po natin yung pinakamalawak na numero ng mga magsasaka at mangingisda so kailangan nating paramihin ang AEW at bigyan sila ng mga nararapat na incentives para magampanan ang kanilang trabaho at mapataas yung kalidad ng serbisyo na kanilang binibigay,” she added.
[They are the key to reaching the largest number of farmers and fishermen, so we need to increase the number of AEWs and provide them with the appropriate incentives to fulfill their duties and improve the quality of service they provide.]
In her study titled “Transforming Philippine Agri-Food Systems with Digital Technology: Extent, Prospects, and Inclusiveness,” AEWs are described as those who use technology to relay recommendations about advanced farming ideas.
Roehlano M. Briones, a PIDS senior research fellow, said that incentives could be in the form of transportation budget allocation, noting that it could be costly to go to the farmers’ areas.
“The reason why they’re [farmers] poor is there’s budget constraint, and budget constraint prevents us from helping those who are poor but somehow we need to be able to bridge this because we can't just be looking at the problem decade after decade without any improvement,” he said.
These AEWs are also hindered by a low number of permanent appointments, with job orders, Galang stated in the PIDS study.
“Even in LGUs that are highly agricultural, the number of AEWs are too few compared to the number of farmers that need to be served,” the researcher further said.
Minimizing digital divide among Filipino farmers is crucial as it could aid farmers in advanced farming, citing examples such as Rice Crop Manager Advisory Service and Digital Clustered Rice Farming that led to more accurate crop management.
Galang cited an instance wherein a farmer, prior to DCRF, his typical harvest would cost P14 per kilogram and gross around P70,000, but in his most recent harvest, he harvested more cavans of rice and had a gross of P120,118 with minimal expenses.
Based on 2022 data from the Philippines Statistics Authority, the gross value added (GVA) in agriculture reached P2.1 trillion in current prices, which is about a tenth of total growth, measured in gross domestic product.
The crops together sum up to less than half of GVA which is 46.4 percent, while capture and raising of animals account for 41.9 percent.