Success spelled this year’s School-on-the-Air Top Achiever’s Examination this August 16, 2018 at the University Training Center.

Of the 13 competing achievers from the partner LGUs, Mr. Florencio Madalipay of the City of Batac emerged as the Top Achiever of this year’s SOA on Crops and Livestock Technologies, followed by achiever’s Mr. Ernard John Agustin of San Nicolas being the second. A tie-breaker was also set among the three achievers, in the end, hailing Mr. Joefrey Agustin of Solsona as third, Mr. Richard Garcia of Badoc as fourth, and Mr. Edilberto John Ramos of Bacarra as fifth. During th previous SOA on Garlic Production, Mr. Florencio Madalipay again emerged as the Top Achiever in 2016.

Other achiever-examiners from the different municipalities are Mrs. Margie Sagucio of Pasuquin, Mr. Jose Caditan of Paoay, Mrs. Lorna Malvar of Sarrat, Mrs. Zenny Sesuando Manuel of Banna, Mr. Edison Yamongan of Currimao, Mr. Noriel Magayano of Vintar, Mr. Celerino Ligot of Marcos, and Mr. Feliciano Rondal of Nueva Era. With 15 participating LGUs, participants from LGU Piddig and Dingras were unable to attend said examination due to issues brought by the heavy downpour of rain experienced in the previous days.

As a venue to test the knowledge gained by the enrollees, the exam covered all the topics discussed throughout the program which served as the sources of questions for the examination. Topics on livestock management including forage management, feeding sources, and strategies, rice production to include the 1k and 6Ps, and farm knowledge and technologies shared by invited speakers during the program, were all magnified during the examination.

            The Top Achiever’s Examination is an integral part of the SOA Program to give opportunity to the active listeners in each participating LGU to be recognized through healthy competition. Best of the bests battled through identification, modified true or false, and enumeration types of examination that truly solicited the knowledge the achiever’s have gained with the airings.

            For all the SOA conducted by MMSU, Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) , PhilRice, DA and line agencies, in partnership with local media outlets, radio has become an effective and encompassing medium of communicating information and technologies to all areas including the farthest municipalities in mountainous areas. Continuous dissemination of information is integral in equipping the rural people especially so with the impacts of climate change experienced in the agriculture, fishery, and natural resources. As such, the SOA program has become an effective instrument in building resilience to farmers and rural folks through its dissemination of climate-resilient technologies and interventions towards bettering agricultural production.

             As Mr. Madalipay said, “Ti School-on-the-Air ket maysa a nakapimpintas a programa a dakkel ti maitulongna kadagiti padak nga agtaltalon. Babaen iti pannakausar ti radio, alisto a maidanon kadakami dagiti napapateg nga impormasion ken kabaruanan a teknolohia a makatuong kadakami nga agtaltalon tapnon lalo a maitag-aymi pay ti kabibiagmi. Sapay koma ta agtultuloy daytoy a klase ti programa ken ad-adu a topiko ti maiyadala kadakami…”.

Moreover, as another day of convergence with the SOA coordinators, concerns on their monitoring activities and opinions as to the graduation were discussed. After deliberations on the schedules and lined activities of the University and the LGUs, September 18 or 19 were considered tentative days for graduation.

The SOA is implemented by MMSU Extension Directorate with the College of Agriculture, Food, and Sustainable Development (CAFSD) and College of Industrial Technology (CIT) with funding from the DOST-PCAARRD project on Sustaining Crop Productivity on Climate-resilient Technologies through Science and Technology Community-Based Farm on Climate Vulnerable Areas in Ilocos Norte, in partnership with local media outlets, DWFB 954 AM Radyo Pilipinas-Laoag and DWCI 105.1 FM Radyo Piddig, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte with the active involvement of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, and the participating Local Government Units.

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