Japanese volunteer in Ilocos Norte shares expertise to ARCs

LAOAG CITY—A young Japanese volunteer Masatoshi Koido will be living in Ilocos Norte for two years. Fresh from a two-week training course of getting-to-know this agricultural province and its people, he can now speak and understand some Ilocano language, enjoys singing “Pamulinawen”, an Ilocano folk song where Laoag derived its city festival, eats pinapaitan and fishball among others.

Feeling ‘at home’ in the province for barely few days stay, Koido, 26, is one of 10 young professionals deployed last week to work with key industries in the Philippines under the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) Program of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

A graduate of Bachelor of Science in Science and Engineering major in social and economic sciences of the University of Tsukuba, one of the oldest and most comprehensive research universities in Japan, Koido is in Ilocos Norte to work with the officers of Agrarian Reform Cooperatives (ARCs) here.

As a premiere tourist destination, Ilocos Norte is geared up to further improve its agricultural products and services to meet international standards.

Apart from land distribution as one of the mandates of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Engr. Vic Ines, provincial agrarian reform officer II in Ilocos Norte said they have intensified their support services to beneficiaries such as trainings on organizational management, enterprise development including provision of common service facilities etc.

As a former bank employee, Koido said he can share his experience on book keeping, accounting and marketing to help local cooperatives.

“Our ARCs will benefit a lot from our volunteer [referring to Koido]. Though we provide local trainings, it’s also different when our beneficiaries will have a chance to learn new ways and integrate this knowledge being practiced by other countries like Japan,” Mr. Ines said.

In a memorandum of agreement signed between and among parties, Koido is expected to assist in intensified rice production with complementary common service facility project of the DAR.

In a one-on-one interview with Koido, he said he also dreams of introducing new and high value seeds to farmers and help them market their products to increase their income.

Mr. Ines said Ilocos Norte is lucky to have Koido for a period of two years to share his expertise and in return, for the volunteer to personally experience the culture and values of Filipinos to attract more foreigners to visit Ilocos Norte. (Leilanie G. Adriano)

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