President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will lead the launching this afternoon of the National Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map (NACCAG) which will teach farmers what to plant in their farms during ceremonies to be held at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said today.

The President will also award the winners of the 2017 Malinis at Masagang Karagatan (MMK) Presidential Awards which recognizes the cleanest coastal communities in the country in bid to encourage better fishing communities.

Piñol said the NACCAG was completed in the past seven months by the Department of Agriculture under its Adaptation & Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) Program as part of the President’s commitment to modernize and improve Philippine agriculture so the country could produce sufficient food for all Filipino by the end of his term in 2022.

Piñol said the NACCAG incorporates and digitalizes all the latest scientific data on soil analysis, climate impact, geographical hazards and weather prediction from PAG-ASA under the website www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph.

Data from the website will need to be downloaded in each community so that the farmers could access them.

The DA plans to put up information centers in the busiest agricultural areas and communities in the country so that farmers could easily access the data from the website,  Piñol said.

“The NACCAG or Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map is a campaign commitment of President Duterte which will enable farmers and fishermen to obtain interactive data on things related to farming and fishing,” the DA Secretary stressed during a press conference at the DA this morning.

“For example, by typing the name of his Region, Province and Town, a farmer will be able to determine what crops could be grown ideally in his area, down to the barangay level,” Piñol noted.

By accessing the website www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph, a fishermen would also know when a storm or dangerous climatic conditions would occur because it will have a link to the PAG-ASA website, the DA Secretary said.

Among the other activities in Malacañang this afternoon are:

1.    Launching of the FARMHELP SmartPhone application which will provide farmers and fishermen access to the different bureaus and agencies under the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries by simply texting to a 24-hour Assistance Center.

2.    Signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Philippine Association of Rubber Farmers, and Phoenix Fuels President Dennis Uy for the start of a study on the establishment of a multi-billion peso Truck and Care Tires Factory using the raw rubber produced by Filipino Farmers.

3.    Launching and Signing of Memorandum of Agreement on the Road Map for Coffee and Cacao in the Philippines with the industry stakeholders, the DAF and the Dept. of Trade and Industry; and

4.    Turn-over of assistance to Pineapple Farmers who will process pineapple leaves into fiber for the manufacture of Pinatex Leather, a material used in automotive dashboards and seat covers, shoes and bags.

Out of the 18 regions in the country, there will be five finalists vying for the top prize of P20-million for the MMK Presidential Awards for 2017, Piñol said.

The second and third placers will receive P8 million and P5 million, respectively while the regional winners will receive P2 million in a contest which requires the towns to meet the following criteria:

• No Illegal Fishing
• Self-imposed Closed Fishing Season
• Designated Marine Sanctuary
• Protected and Rehabilitated Mangrove Area
• No garbage or debris floating in the fishing grounds. ### (DA-OSEC/photo by Alarico Nuestro)

Reference:
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol