Simplify technologies for farmers – DA

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has challenged experts to bring down and simplify technologies to be able to reach farmers and improve their productivity.

Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano urged researchers and scientists to design and develop technologies that are accessible to Filipino farmers.

“You have to get the technology to the people on the ground,” Serrano said, adding that experts would need to think out of the box.

“We need ( a) breakthrough so that we are able to produce new platforms of technology that are more productive and more sustainable than the ones that we have done before,” he added.

Serrano also emphasized the need to prioritize programs and projects that can extend better service to Filipino farmers.

“We have so many environments for rice but we have to concentrate and focus on areas where varieties could really make a difference,” he said.

Earlier, Agriculture chief Emmanuel Piñol stressed that technologies are hardly felt by farmers themselves.

There seems to be a disconnect, he said, between advancement in technol- ogy and its application in the field to help boost agricultural production.

He also asked technological stakeholders involved in the agriculture sector to simplify everything and make it understandable to the ordinary farmer.

“What we need right now are experts who can translate all the technology in a language understandable and applicable to our farmers,” he said.

Piñol added that any technology is a waste of money, time and effort if it is not being translated and shared to local farmers.