The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pursuing a data generation and depositary program helping the agency make full use of data gathered by its various bureaus into informed policy decisions.
As a support group within the DA, the agriculture sub-sector indicators system (ASSIST) project will generate and organize real-time data on various parameters crucial for informed decisions on policy making, planning and support of various activities and interventions in the sector.
A steering committee, technical working group (TWG), information and communication (ICT) support group and secretariat will address issues and challenges related to supply, demand and price of agricultural and fishery commodities.
The program is designed to achieve higher farm yield, contribute to supply chain efficiency and transparency and provide better price and fair access to markets while generating valuable insights that can be shared with farmers, fisherfolk and policymakers.
The DA said the TWG will be focused on establishing and maintaining governance policies, procedures and framework for the project as well as determine the required resources, including budget, workforce, technology and infrastructure, among others.
The ICT group will handle the provision of assistance and technical support in the review of datasets for standardization, integration and report generation as well as capacity-building activities and identification of technology requirements.
A special DA oder tasks the technical secretariat as overall project facilitator, provide administrative and technical support by coordinating meetings, workshops, training, invitations and related events as required, aside from preparing and keeping reports.
