CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Twenty-nine farm owners and LGU representatives from Ilocos Region, Cagayan Region and Central Luzon graduated from the training on Climate-Smart Farm Business School implemented by the Agricultural Training Institute Regional Office III in partnership with Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) Foundation at Orotel, City of San Fernando City recently.
The graduation ceremony was attended by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairperson and the managing director of the Villar SIPAG Foundation Senator Cynthia Villar who also served as the guest speaker.
“We have to empower our farmers to continue on their family-farming and while they continue their family-farming, they are earning,” Villar said during her speech at the graduation ceremony.
Villar hopes that the graduates’ experiences can be used for the development of business plan to be implemented to their own farms and wants every town in the country has farm school.
“In fact, ako po, talagang ngayong congress, ay really working hard to be able to pass a bill about providing insurance to all agricultural crops and the small and micro enterprises,” Villar said.
Meanwhile, Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office III (DARFO-III) Regional Director Roy Abaya also delivered his message where he mentioned the highlights of the DA programs with the collaboration of attached bureaus and agencies for the farmers and fisherfolks in the region.
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Deputy Director Alfredo Aton was also one of the speakers.
The said training aims to explain the opportunities in the implementation of AEC; discuss the transformation leadership; discuss climate change and its impact to agriculture and participatory disaster risk assessment; identify the different climate smart practices: adaptation and mitigation strategies; discuss farming as a business; conduct market survey and farm assessment; discuss the ra 10861; explain the big brother, small brother extension model; and develop a farm business plan.
The training was held on March 12 to 23, 2017 at Orotel Pampanga, City of San Fernando and Villar SIPAG Farm School, San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan. (Justine Trey Cubos/Contributor)