NORTH COTABATO – The Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program teams in Region 12 (Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and Sarangani) presented the results of the pilot testing of geo-tagging and farmer profiling interviews before the National Program Management Office (NPMO) and the DA-Information and Communication Technology Service last March 31, 2017 at Hotel Micah, Kidapawan City, North Cotabato.

The said geo-tagging and farmer profiling were conducted last March 30, 2017 at Barangay Luanan, Municipality of Aleosan in North Cotabato.

Prior to the mentioned result-sharing, the DA-ICTS team briefly discussed and demonstrated the proper way on how to consolidate the gathered data in geo-tagging using Basemap/Geosetter and Google Earth.

Fernando Jay Alforque, IT staff of SAAD North Cotabato, then led the presentation of the consolidated photos from the mentioned activity.

Following that is a discussion and a forum on the outcome of the interviews and profiling of farmers (held on the same day as the geo-tagging) using the form that the SAAD NPMO provided.

Comments and suggestions were gathered from the participants (Provincial/ Area Coordinators and SAAD Regional PMSO) for further improvements of the farmer and organization profile forms.

After the pilot testing and result-sharing, the participants are expected to pursue the geo-tagging of other areas, beneficiaries, and interventions in their respective provinces for the Special Area for Agricultural Development program. ###