Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture - Farmers Find Web Conferencing Effective as Information Delivery Tool

Farmers Find Web Conferencing Effective as Information Delivery Tool

Written by OPAPA
Thursday, 02 July 2009
Web conferencing, an ICT-based medium that may be used to communicate or convey rice S&T information to OPAPA CyberCom farmers, is being pilot tested for its effectiveness in terms of usefulness, appropriateness and clarity to farmers. Web conferencing uses Skype and Yahoo Messenger (YM) instant messaging services (IMS) which are open-source, low-cost, user –friendly and commonplace. Three web conference sessions were separately conducted with PhilRice CES experts answering farmers’ queries, namely: Mr. Willy Collado who discussed nutrient management; Mr. Rolando San Gabriel who disclosed rice pests and diseases prevention and control strategies; and Dr. Caesar Joventino Tado who gave pieces of advice on rice post production care and technologies to Pampanga Cybercom farmers. Agusan and Banaybanay Cybercom farmers, on the other hand, are having web conferencing on the PalayCheck system as message or content. Fourteen farmers from Pampanga, 10 from Agusan , and 37 from Banaybanay Cybercoms actively participated in the web conference sessions held on 24 February 2009, 17 March 2009, 14 April 2009 (Pampanga) , and on 27 May 2009 for both Agusan and Banaybanay Cybercom farmers. Farmers expressed that they appreciate the web conference sessions because they learned a lot from the experts on the above-stated topics. The experts explained the topics well, and their queries and information needs were fully satisfied. Among the other factors contributing to the successful conduct and effectiveness of the web conference sessions are: 1) careful planning and coordination between the web conference coordinators at PhilRice CES and in the field; 2) experts’ credibility and communication skills; stable broadband and high- speed internet connectivity, uninterrupted electric power supply, and well-functioning computer wares and other ICT gadgets. OPAPA PhilRice staff Oliver C. Domingo, with the assistance of supervising science research specialist Dr. Ethel Cuyco, spearhead the Web Conference pilot testing using combined participatory action and process documentation research designs.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 August 2009 )