To scale out the Climate Change-Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (CC-AMIA) Program, DA RFO 2 PMED CC-AMIA spearheaded a Participatory Climate Resiliency and Vulnerability Appraisal (PCRVA) on March 22-25, 2022 in Barangay Giayan, Nagtipunan, Quirino, where the new AMIA Village will be established. 

Ms. Hedie Arsenia Marquez, Municipal Agriculturist of Nagtipunan, Quirino, welcomed the participants and facilitators during the opening of the orientation phase. “We are lucky, because in the whole Quirino Province, we are chosen to become part of this Climate Change-Adaption Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (CC-AMIA) Program through our participative character and because our municipality and barangay Giayan meets the criteria of becoming CC-AMIA Village based on Climate Resiliency and Vulnerability Assessment conducted,” Marquez said.

PCRVA is a combination of interactive methods that enhance rural and agricultural communities’ ability to analyze and understand their situation in a holistic manner and be empowered to plan and act for their betterment. 

It is a community-oriented mutual learning process which aim to achieve common goals. It makes use of a variety visualization tools such as creation of village map, village transect walk, trend/timeline analysis, workshop on seasonal calendar and strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat (SWOT) analysis to facilitate information exchange. Knowledge of local people is valued as equally important as specific expertise. 

During the presentation of the process results, the participants identified the existing problems in their community and provided some possible solutions to address them.

Other participants and facilitators are staff from Provincial Agriculture Office of Quirino, staff from the DA-Quirino Experiment Station (DA-QES), and Municipal Agriculture Office of Nagtipunan as well, representatives from Giayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, senior citizens, youth sector, religious sector, barangay officials, Bugkalots (a tribal group in Nagtipunan), and other local residents. The PCRVA results will be encapsulated as a comprehensive report to be used as baseline in the identification, prioritization and targeting for investments in establishing the AMIA Village in Giayan.

#Story from R. Nacomel