Agri office to publish list of investments in Eastern Visayas

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will publish the list of investments in all provinces of the region by the end of the year with the ongoing study that will cover all areas of Eastern Visayas.

DA Regional Technical Director Wilson Cerbito said the official publication will help businessmen and local government officials locate potential investments.

The data will also be published in the department’s web portal called Matuwid na Daan (DA Accountability Network), to be launched on July 5.

The Inventory System on Agriculture and Fishery Investments (ISAFI) will be implemented in Northern Samar and Samar making Eastern Visayas the first region in the country with all areas covered by the said survey.

Cerbito said they are now preparing for the two-month data gathering in these two provinces, which starts in July for Northern Samar and September for Samar.

The official data for ISAFI in Leyte was released earlier while assessment results for Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Eastern Samar are still processed by the farm department.

“We will be the first region in the country to complete the ISAFI in all provinces. By the end of the year, we are looking to publish the inventory of all provinces,” Cerbito told Leyte Samar Daily Express.

ISAFI, a project that gathers updated information on the quantity and quality of both public and private agri-fishery investments, was piloted in Leyte, Quezon province, and Bukidnon.

“Fund savings generated during the Leyte inventory and additional budget support, made us possible to implement the same project in Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Eastern Samar. We were allowed to cover all provinces because we are efficient in managing resources and had good quality data gathering,” Cerbito said.

Final results for Biliran, Southern Leyte, and Eastern Samar inventory will be released on August this year.

Through the project, the DA expects to come up with comprehensive baseline data on agriculture and fishery investments, investment profiles from national to barangay level, and investment maps.

Investments include irrigation facilities (with or without pumps), farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities, other infrastructure, and other farm facilities and equipment.

The inventory is part of the National Farmers Registry System. The system will be linked to the Unified and Geospatial Information System, a reliable and comprehensive database for agriculture and fisheries intended not only to address existing data gaps but more importantly to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of support services to farmers. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)