SRA-LGAREC

Published by the SRA-La Granja Agricultural Research and Extension Center La Granja, La Carlota City Negros Occidental, Philippines Phone/Fax (034) 735-0132 www.sra-lgarec.net e-mail: lgarec@yahoo.com Vol. 6 No 9 December 2004

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Information Communications Technology and SRA-LGAREC

United Nations, in its move to further develop Africa, noted that ICT has become so important to virtually all aspects of life, activities and operations, from research and development to industrialization, from health services to entertainment, from education to systems of governance, that they have become fundamental to basic life. In short, they have become a utility. Often misconstrued to be everything about computers, ICT is actually the pipes and mechanisms through which knowledge and information are packaged and transmitted, to be unbundled for deployment at the receiving end. Magazines, transistorized radio, television, landlines or cell phones, like computers, are all forms of packaging and sharing of information. Computers may be the current standard but this may also change in the future. SRA-LGAREC, being the leading sugarcane research and development institute, has accumulated enormous data and information through decades of studies and experimentation. However, the valuable information stored in the archives had been accessible only to those who were patient to search and learn and those fortunate to attend trainings conducted like OPSI. In August 2002, www.sra-lgarec.net was launched in the Internet. The website contains valuable information like research abstracts, catalogue of sugarcane pests and diseases, sugarcane varieties, brochures, updates, bidding announcements and about SRA-LGAREC. Last March 2004, SRA-LGAREC also established its Local Area Network (LAN) funded by the ACEF. Using wired and wireless technology the LAN was online since April. Today, researchers are able to

communicate and share information fast notwithstanding the geographical locations of buildings and laboratories in the center. High-end computers were also acquired through the ACEF, while the earlier units where upgraded to fit into the current standards. The computers are located practically in all departments and serve as a valuable tool in the fast storage, processing and sharing of information in the station. The latest ACEF funded ICT project is the Negros-Panay LAN/WAN. The 1.7million-peso project will establish the LAN of SRA-Bacolod offices and a Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect LGAREC, Bacolod, Panay and the MDDCs. Topping it all is the databank of all the sugar industry information and the customized software that will enable SRA to further improve its delivery of services and reinforce its efficiency and performance. By: Grignion L. Rosales Agriculturist II ICT-TWG

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