From 14 to 22 February 2023, the Access Agriculture team, consisting of Executive Director Josephine Rodgers, Philippines Coordinator Danessa Lopega, and Honorary Ambassador for Asia Dr. Shaikh Tanveer Hossain, visited different organisations in the Philippines and explored partnerships for Access Agriculture's project in the country.
Access Agriculture will be working with several organisations in the Philippines to bring their resources of effective farmer-to-farmer training videos in appropriate local languages. This will help family farmers with few resources improve their livelihood and make agriculture more resilient to climate change and other issues.
During the series of meetings, the organisations were briefed on Access Agriculture's innovative digital approach supporting South-South learning of farmers through high-quality agricultural videos.
The team also talked about the translation and video production workshops that Access Agriculture would provide to the organisations. The first step toward developing high-quality videos in collaboration with partner organisations will be to translate selected Access Agriculture videos into three Filipino languages: Tagalog, Cebuano, and Ilonggo.
The team also showcased the smart projectors that work as a tool for extension workers to show the videos in places where there is no internet, no electricity, and no mobile signal.
During the visits, some partners accompanied the team to look into farmers' projects around their communities which would benefit from access to the videos.
The organisations visited in Luzon included the Philippine Permaculture Association, Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), SEARCA (Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture), University of the Philippines Los Baños College for Development Communication (UPLB CDC), and UPLB Institute of Agroforestry (IAF).
The team also met with the Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Foundation Inc. (NISARD) in Visayas, and the Alternative Bridge to Community Development (ab2cd), and FICCO Community Outreach Foundation (FCOF) in Mindanao.
