DA Advocates for Wider Use of Renewable Energy

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking into the wider adoption of renewable energy (RE) in the sector of agriculture via capacity building to lessen the production costs of food.

With the help of the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE). the DA plans on tackling capacity building and institutional development that call attention to the economic benefits of using RE in agri-fisheries like fewer costs of production and lowered energy requirement.

This initiative will be executed as BAFE is in charge of the Renewable Energy Program for the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector (REPAFS) according to Juana Tapel, BAFE’s Assitant Director.

The REPAFS serves as the main framework for the implementation of energy-related projects under the agriculture and fisheries section assigned by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the DA back in August 2020.

This initiative is also part of the National Renewable Energy Program and is under the DA’s National Agri Fishery Mechanization Plan and the National Agriculture and Fishery Modernization and Industrialization Plan.

Aside from this, this effort is also an interagency collaboration centered on increasing energy and food security through cost-efficient renewable energy sources in the agriculture and fisheries industries.

BAFE states that farmers’ associations, cooperatives, and individual fisherfolks and farmers can benefit from using renewable energy technology applications for the food value chain.

On the data of the DOE, the local agriculture and fisheries sector has been increasing its energy demands over the past years.

Source: Philstar