BAGUIO CITY – Agriculture extension workers (AEWs) under the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) of the different municipalities of Cordillera Administrative Region attended the Cordillera Regional Risk Reduction and Management Orientation-cum-Planning Workshop at Hotel Supreme, Baguio City.
The 2-day activity aimed at disseminating information on the Manual of Operation on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) of the Department of Agriculture, strategizing the implementation of the DRRM plans, and agreeing on a uniform baseline data for use in the assessment of damages, the reporting system and timelines.
The participants updated their list of standing crops and valuation of costing for every high value crop produced in their municipalities. They also reviewed the format for the master list of farmers affected by commodity including infrastructure and machinery/ equipment. Also, they assessed the vulnerable areas in their municipalities. Their outputs were finalized by the provincial HVCDP coordinators and report officers during the 2nd batch of the workshop.
Reporting damage on high value crops is more complex than the other banner programs since it involves different kinds of crops said Ms. Elleanor Camut of the HVCDP. This was seconded by OIC-Chief Tapat when she said that HVCDP is crop-specific with corresponding stage of crops making its computation meticulous. Thus, the conduct of the workshop for AEWs under HVCDP to update the assumptions, especially the production cost for every high value crops, is timely and relevant.
By Karen T. Gawigawen