Picture of Joeven C. Calasagsag
South Cotabato adopts e-commerce to promote agribiz sector
by Joeven C. Calasagsag - Friday, 8 June 2012, 12:08 PM
 
balita.ph; June 6, 2012 11:15 pm 

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, June 6 – The provincial government of South Cotabato has turned to electronic commerce or e-commerce in promoting market development and expansions for the province’s agribusiness sector.

Eddie Non, agribusiness section chief of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG)-South Cotabato, said Wednesday they have adopted e-commerce as a tool to further enhance the linkages to domestic and foreign markets of various agribusiness products from the province’s 10 towns and lone city.

E-commerce, which is considered the sales aspect of the expanding online or electronic business, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

Electronic commerce draws on cyberspace technologies such as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems and automated data collection systems but may encompass other technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices and telephones.

“Through the e-commerce, we can provide greater reach for our agricultural products and at the same time enable our farmers to access information about new technologies,” Non said.

As part of the initiative, he said OPAG will hold an e- commerce trainers training for officers and members of municipal cooperative development councils and municipal agribusiness coordinators in the area.

He said the training is supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture Region 12’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).

Non said the activity will mainly link up municipal agribusiness cooperatives to interested parties in the marketing field for possible collaborations.

Eduardo Suyamin, ATI regional e-extension coordinator, said that through the e-commerce training, the participants would be able to create data about their products and establish a contact system that will later be accessed by the public online.

“Through this training, we will help our agribusiness cooperatives create their own websites where their members can promote and sell their products and where interested groups may access or contact them,” he said.

Non said the program will eventually benefit at least 30 active agricultural cooperatives within the province’s 10 towns and lone city.

“Our agribusiness sector must go with the modern technologies to compete better and I think we’re now ready to take on e-commerce as starting point,” he added. [(PNA)LDV/AVE/KZT]

Online: 0 Messages: 0
You are not logged in. (Login)