Agriculture Dept. equips pig farmers with computers
The first group of pig farmers participate in a workshop to learn to use their new computers.
With the goal of providing tools to make their work on the farm easier and faster, the Agriculture Department recently delivered 15 computers to as many local pig farmers.
The technology was coupled with a workshop to train them on how to keep track of their busines, through software created exclusively for their line of business.
The agency is spending about $500,000 through the Quality and High Performance Unit Initiative to help the island’s pork industry improve product quality, increase yield and the efficiency of pig producers. To help agro entrepreneurs improve their operations, Agriculture is also granting incentives for infrastructure and to purchase animals.
According to the agency’s most recent Farmers Profile, 77 percent of the island’s farmers have some sort of system in place to keep track of their business. Of those, 74 percent do it by hand, which means they do not use technology to manage their accounts.
