REACH – September 2013
THE FARMERS INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY SERVICES (FITS) CENTER OF KASC
by Marciano Paroy Jr.
Export quality apples are now being
grown in Agbannawag, Tabuk, Kalinga
Province.
There. I got your attention.
Dilemma: Whenever an enterprising
farmer would be in dire need of
information regarding, say, a possible
change in his crop, or a shift in his
farming techniques, he is most
oftentimes left scratching his head.
Fact:
Farmers
and
small-scale
entrepreneurs always inadvertently find
themselves in the dark, lumped with
those we term as ?not-knowing.? This
doesn’t mean though that they lack the
initiative ?to know.? It’s just that they don’t
know where to go, in order ?to know.?
Enter the Farmers Information and
Technology Services (FITS) Center of
the Kalinga-Apayao State College.
Designed to cater to the information needs of the underserved members of the population regarding opportunities that
could make them contribute to community development, FITS is a depository of beneficial information and available
technology.
The establishment of FITS is not a new concept. FITS Centers proliferate across the country. Some are housed in state
colleges and universities; some are managed by local government units (municipal level); and some are even operated by
resourceful barangays.
And so KASC, back in 2001, had enough initiative, through Research Director Jovita E. Saguibo, to establish the first
FITS Center in the province of Kalinga. It has been unrelenting since then in its commitment to serve the information hungry farmers and entrepreneurs by way of trainings and other extension activities. In fact, a year after it was launched,
our FITS Center in the province was chosen as the Best FITS in the Cordillera. This was then during Dr. Venus
Lammawin’s term.
With Dr. Eduardo Bagtang now at the helm of the state college, FITS continues to enjoy the support of the administration.
It is still within the fence of the Research and Extension Department – which has recently been re-structured, with Dr.
Maximo Garming now sitting at the Extension arm of the unit, and Dr. Jovita Saguibo retaining the most probably
uncontested seat at the Research wing of the college.
An invitation: FITS is a storehouse of information; so anyone (farmer, entrepreneur, student, researcher, scientist-expert)
can visit the center in KASC and pore over the materials (publications) or look into the scheduled training opportunities
and extension activities, or possibly build a tie-up with the center – as long as the welfare of our intended clients take the
forefront of our undertakings.
So whether you may want to look into our publications, or look into our training activities, the doors of the FITS Center in
KASC are open. There just might be something here that could answer your concern about changing your crop of choice.
Apples cannot, of course, be grown in Agbannawag or anywhere else in Tabuk.
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