CALABARZON, April 18, 2023 – For more effective information gathering system on the field, the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program Phase 2 in CALABARZON implementers underwent a two-day training on Profiling and Database Management, which introduces tools to collect and manage farmers’ information.

Data collected from beneficiaries are set to be encoded to the program’s national database system, which is used as a foundation for the agricultural and fisheries development planning of the Program.  Through the workshop, the regional and provincial staff were introduced to the processes of information management.

On February 20 to 21, National Management Program Office (NPMO) IT Unit Head Mr. Randy Ocampo and Information Technologist Mr. Paul John Ballesteros, led a workshop on profiling processes, with Ms. Diana Jane Madrona, Data Quality Checker from RSBSA regional office, and attended by 19 participants from the Regional Project Management Support Office (RPMSO) and Provincial Project Management Support Offices (PPMSOs) of SAAD CALABARZON.

The Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) is a registration system for farmers, fishermen, and farm laborers managed by the Department of Agriculture. Data from said system serves as a tool for agricultural-related planning, review, and monitoring of the agencies. With the goal to centralize basic sector’s data, the SAAD national registry will be connected to the RSBSA system through data collaboration where SAAD shall forward collected information of unregistered beneficiaries to the RSBSA.

This sharing is a DA mandated order for a systematic digitalised registration for effective planning and distribution of agri-related support (RSBSA, 2021 Memo).

The form called the RSBSA Enrollment Form contains an individual’s personal data and socio-economic information, agricultural ownership information including total area, and details on commodities being cultivated. Thereafter, the data are encoded and transmitted to the DA information system. 

During the workshop, Mr. Ocampo provided an overview of the beneficiary’s profiling form, underlining RSBSA enlistment as an important tool for monitoring, especially in SAAD’s case catering to farflung and conflicted areas. Mr. Ocampo also opened the opportunity for a simulation where learners experience first-hand the enlistment of identified unregistered beneficiaries to the registry system. The activity later tasked the learners to upload and register the individual farmers and farmer associations’ information in the SAAD server. This part of the activity exposes the implementers to actual data management. 

SAAD CALABARZON will cover 25 Farmers Cooperatives and Associations (FCAs) with 625 beneficiary members in four (4) municipalities namely Alabat, Quezon, Perez (Quezon Province) and Tingloy (Batangas). ###

Writer: Pamela Faith M. Garcia , DA-SAAD CALABARZON Information Officer