Mina topped the 4th eGov Awards as Best in Business Empowerment (G2B) Award with its entry, the Municipal Agriculture Information System (MAIS) which was chosen over three other finalists from big cities known for their comprehensive ICT solutions such as Muntilupa , Tagum in Davao and San Pedro in Laguna .
On Behalf of Mayor Rey P. Grabato, Dory P. Emelo, Mina’s Municipal Assessor, received the recognition for the Municipality during the awarding ceremony held at the Albay Astrodome , Legaspi City on October 25, 2015. It was done during a dinner hosted by Governor Joey Salceda of Albay for the participants of the 7th National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) Summit.
eGov Awards is the first and most prestigious recognition given by the ICT sector to LGUs with exemplary performance in empowering its public customers and business . It is an annual nationwide search organized by NICP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the best practices in local government units in utilizing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to effectively. And efficiently deliver its public services directly to its constituents and to its business stakeholders.
MAIS was conceptualized by Former Mayor Lydia E. Grabato during her incumbency as Local Chief Executive of Mina in 2011. With the expertise of Mr. Tomas Bibangco from PPDO, Iloilo Provincial Office, the system was develop in 2012. It was also realized through the help of Governor Arthur D. Defensor, Sr, and Mr. Mario Nillos, PPDO.
MAIS is a dynamic software, and an information system that provides a mass storage of Agricultural data with an effective and efficient retrieval of status at any given time. It is a database decision –making tool with an up- to date inventory of all agricultural commodities of farm production in certain LGU and it provides easy access on a commodity’s supply and production situation at real time.
It is a data-base solution where information on the demand of specific commodities are gathered simultaneously with the production data from the farmers in every barangay. It combines data from the different sources as provided from the regular surveys or inventory and merging this data into a cohesive database designed to facilitate linkages from its place of origin (farm) to market( local and global).
It can aid the small scale-farmers in synchronizing their planting to cater the high demand of supply. The farmer’s profile and the training undertaken, are also encoded the system.
The target primary beneficiaries are the Municipal Agriculture Offices, farmers producers, buyers, wholesalers, consolidators , planners agriculture officers in all levels and investors. The secondary beneficiaries are the Government Agencies like DA, NEDA, DTI, DOST for their real time agricultural production data needs.
The system can generate monthly information both on real-time and projected information. In Mina, there are 1800 farmers that have been included into the system and they access to information available on it. It is lodged at the Municipal Agriculture office which managed the system and mandated to sustain the permanently of its operation. Change in political leadership may not be an issue in its implementation. Clients can now call via phone to get real-time information about agriculture products available or by just visiting the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) where they could already get the information they needed . There is also a summary of monthly information submitted by MAO to PPDO and can be viewed in the website of Integrated Central Iloilo Alliance for Economic Development of the ICIA-ED www.icia-ed.gov.ph. Meanwhile the upgrading to wed version of MAIS known as Municipal Agriculture Information System Farmers and Agri- Resources Management System (MAIS- FARMS) is reaching completion for implementation. With this the farmers can use cross platform devices such as desktops, laptops , mobiles . For now, reports of MAIS data can be viewed at icia-ed com.ph for references of possible buyers and investors.