MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: This AGREEMENT is entered into by and between: The DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE-AGRICULTURAL TRAINING INSTITUTE 8, with principal office address at VSU Compound, ViSCA, Baybay City Leyte, represented herein by PAULINO T. CABAHIT, Ph.D., Center Director, herein referred to as the DA-ATI 8, and MRS. SONIA V. PORCARE, Partner- Farmer-Leader of the Diversified and Integrated Farm: A demo Farm Adopting Sorjan Farming System, with official address at Sitio Punay Brgy. Tugbong, Kananga, Leyte hereinafter referred to as the SECOND PARTY;

WITNESSETH:

WHEREAS, Agriculture and Fishery (AF) Extension is central growth and development of the Agriculture and Fishery sectors, hence, managing its extension services is crucial in empowering the producers/farmers in giving them the competitive edge. It was pointed out that AF Extension in the Philippines faces serious problems that affect its efficiency and effectiveness: highly fragmented, lacks a coherent direction, demoralized and aging personnel, weak research-extension linkage, underinvestment, and highly politicized structure among others, per AgriCom reports, 1996, thus affecting the Extension development in the country;

WHEREAS, the current state of the AF Extension system in the Philippines is struggling to provide direct and universal access of quality services for the people through the services of a farmerleaders as one of the most reliable partners in implementing development programs by employing their farms as showcase for agricultural development innovations of good, effective and efficient practices under the principle of Public-Private Partnership;

WHEREAS, financial assistance shall be provided to qualified Partner-farmer-leader who are willing to use his farm to showcase agricultural development programs as Learning Area: an effective and efficient tool for the School for Practical Agriculture where more and more farmers will be thought/enrolled on a diversified and integrated farming system for techno-needy farming communities in bringing theories, concepts and principles of organic farming and other farming practices to practical situations, and eventually becomes a worthy Agribusiness-Eco-Tourism destination in the future;

WHEREAS, there is a growing need for an effective and efficient advocacy on the use of a combination of approaches through a classroom instructions and the use of actual field exposure through an experienced Partner-farmer-leaders in a farmer-to-farmer learning method in training and extension;

WHEREAS, the use of the Partner-farmer-leaders showcased farm will muster an effective and efficient learning area or farm school anchored on the principles of learning by doing as people learns best through direct hands-on experience;

WHEREAS, the learning area operationalized in the Partner-farmer-leaders farms as field laboratory where ATI, ATI-trained trainers and farmers can apply and practice organic agriculture systems under the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP), to become effective trainers and extension practitioners;

WHEREAS, the Agricultural Training Institute is the training arm of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which is given the responsibility to implement Extension Innovations through the Learning Area as an effective and efficient tool for the School for Practical Agriculture of any interested farmers in Support to Organic Agriculture and other Agricultural Programs and to manage the funds for the aforementioned project prudently;

WHEREAS, the Second Part being the Project Proponent is a DA-ATI 8 assisted, these may be a highly experienced Partner-farmer-leader/Cooperative/Association or Organization;

NOW THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the foregoing premises and mutual covenants contained herein, the parties hereby agree on the following:

A. GENERAL CONDITIONS: 1. Provide assistance in the form of ____________________________________________ ______________________________ exclusively based on the Project Proposals area of responsibility in the amount of _________________________ to the SECOND PARTY; 2. Both parties shall faithfully comply with all the provisions of this agreement. B. OBLIGATIONS OF THE DA-ATI: 1. Review, evaluate and allocate funds for the proposal submitted by the Second Party on the proposed learning area in close collaboration with the Provincial/Municipal LGUs and other extension service providers; 2. Release the fund to the Second Party following the existing disbursement, accounting and auditing procedure; 3. Provide continuous technical assistance to the Second party, in all phases, during the implementation of the project; 4. Conduct regular monitoring of the actual implementation of all the activities stipulated in the project proposal; 5. Reserve the right to intervene and institute remedial and corrective measures in case of misappropriation or non-compliance with any of the provisions of this contract upon the recommendation of the technical monitoring and evaluation officers; and 6. See to it that the Second Party will reconstitute the entire amount in the vent that there is misappropriation and non-utilization of the fund and material assistance and return the same amount to the Treasury.

C. OBLIGATIONS OF THE SECOND PARTY 1. Prepare and submit a Project Proposal for the development of a Learning Area to DAATI, for review and approval; 2. Implement the project based on the approved project proposal in line with the National Organic agriculture Program (NOAP) requirements once it is approved and funded, and finally funds are released; 3. Be able to meet the requirements of the project, to wit: A. Learning Area a. b. c. d. e. Shall be owned and personally manage/cultivated by the proponent; Shall be within the premises of the partner-farmer-leaders residential farm; Must have an area of at least one (1) hectare; Accessible by land and other transportation facilities; and Has the potential to be a future School for Practical Agriculture and an Agribusiness-Ecotourism Destination. B. Proponent a. b. c. d. e. Capable of sustaining the operation and maintenance of the project as their equity; Physically fit, able to articulate and share ideas to co-farmers; Owner-tiller; Practicing diversified and integrated farming system; and Willing to undergo and be a Partner of DA-ATIs trainings, congresses, forums and other organic agriculture-related extension activities.

4. Administer the fund and other material assistance in accordance with the work and financial plan approved by DA-ATI and existing accounting and auditing procedures; 5. Being a government assisted project through DA-ATI, the Institute has always the access to the learning area to be an educational area for various groups interested to learn agricultural technologies. Specifically, as: a. Practicum site/On-the-job training venue for the students under the Ladderized Course in agriculture; b. On-site training venue/Season-long Farmer Field School to complement the classroom trainings of ATI and other training institutions; and c. Field visit area for fellow farmers, entrepreneurs, people interested to venture into farming, training participants, youth groups, students, among others. 6. Likewise, the Second Party as DA-ATIs Partner shall be willing to serve as the Teacher or who shall be referred as Farmer-Trainer and he/she maybe entitled for a token in any form when funds are available, following existing disbursements, accounting and auditing procedure; 7. Submit reports regularly to DA-ATI on his/her/their farming activity, as may be required; 8. And finally, the Second Party should give full access to authorized DA-ATI Technical Staff/Representatives during the conduct of monitoring and evaluation activities;

D. LIABILITY AND PENALTIES 1. The Second Party fully agrees that the fund and material supports shall be solely and exclusively used for the above project. In case the project did not push thru, implementing funds shall be returned to DA-ATI by the Second Party, with in ten (10) days from the date the project activity should have commenced, without the need for demand letter from DA-ATI. Otherwise, the funds shall earn an interest of 2% per month from the expiration of the said ten (10) day period until full payment. Fraction of six (6) moths shall be considered one (1) year. 2. In case of misappropriation and/or misuse of the funds and unjustifiable non-utilization of the funds amounting to gross negligence, the Second Party who is the fund beneficiary shall face applicable criminal actions and liabilities thereof. E. EFFECTIVITY This Agreement shall take effect immediately upon signing by all parties and shall be in full force and effect until the satisfactory fulfillment of all its terms and conditions. Any amendments and modifications to this Agreement shall be made in writing upon mutual consent by both parties concerned. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have hereunto affixed their respective signature this _____ day of ___________ 2012, at ___________________, ___________________.

Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL TRAINING INSTITUTE 8 By:

SECOND PARTY

By:

PAULINO T CABAHIT, Ph.D. DA-ATI 8 Center Director

SONIA V. PORCARE Partner-Farmer-Leader

WITNESSES

__________________________

___________________________

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Republic of the Philippines Province of Leyte Municipality of Kananga ) )S.S. )

BEFORE ME, a Notary Public for in the Municipality of Kananga Philippines personally appeared the following: Name ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ CTC No. ________________ ________________ ________________ Date Issued _______________ _______________ _______________ Place Issued ___________________ ___________________ ___________________

Known to me as the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument, consisting of four (4) pages including this page where this Acknowledgement is written. The parties and their instrument witnesses signed all the pages thereof and acknowledged to me the same is their own free and voluntary act and deed and those of the entities which they respectively represent. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this _________ day of _____________, 2012 at ______________________________.

Doc No._____________ Page No._____________ Book No._____________ Series of 2012