Over 300 Cordillera agriculturists train in AI and digital farming, aiming to improve yields and strengthen food security in local communities. (Image by freepik)
MANILA, Philippines — More than 300 agriculturists gathered not just for compliance, but for a shared purpose: to keep food on Filipino tables.
Inside a modest convention hall in the Cordillera Administrative Region, conversations moved beyond routine updates. Laptops flickered with presentations on artificial intelligence, soil analytics, and digital mapping. For many in the room, these are tools that represent the future of farming in communities still deeply rooted in tradition.
More than CPD
For Gerardo Banawa, the gathering is about more than earning continuing professional development (CPD) units required by the Professional Regulation Commission.
“Yes, they need the units to renew their licenses,” Banawa told PNA on the sidelines of the three-day convention. “But more importantly, they need to go back to their towns equipped with knowledge that farmers can actually use.”
He retired from the Department of Agriculture earlier this year. And now he leads the regional chapter of the Philippine Association of Agriculturists — a group that has quietly become a bridge between policy and the plow.
Most of the participants are embedded in local government units, serving as the crucial link between scientific research and farmers working the land. Their decisions — from recommending crop varieties to advising on fertilizer use — ripple directly into harvest yields.
That responsibility is becoming more complex.
“Computer-based agriculture is now moving toward digitalization,” Banawa said. “It’s no longer just about planting and harvesting. It’s about combining technology and strategy to increase production.”
In practical terms, that means learning how artificial intelligence can predict weather patterns, how data can guide planting cycles, and how precision farming can reduce waste. For agriculturists in the Cordillera, where terrain and climate pose constant challenges, these tools are not luxuries — they are lifelines.
Agriculturists and food security
Yet the conversations repeatedly circle back to a familiar concern: food security.
“We cannot achieve food sufficiency alone,” Banawa said. “There has to be cooperation between government and the private sector. They complement each other in increasing production to feed the nation.”
The regional chapter, organized nearly a decade ago, has steadily built a space for this kind of exchange — holding face-to-face conventions when possible, and shifting online during the pandemic. For many attendees, it’s one of the few opportunities to step back from fieldwork and reflect on the bigger picture of Philippine agriculture.
But beyond policy and technology, the gathering carries a quieter, more human urgency.
Agriculturists are not just technicians; they are advisers, troubleshooters, and often confidants to farmers navigating rising costs, unpredictable weather, and shifting markets. Their updated knowledge can mean the difference between a failed crop and a successful harvest.
“Agriculture will never be phased out,” Banawa said. “As long as people eat, there will always be a need for it.”
In the Cordillera, that truth is etched into the mountains — and now, increasingly, into the data and digital tools these agriculturists are learning to carry back home.
About The Author
