CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Some 29 farm owners from Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and Central Luzon graduated with flying colors after finishing the 10-day training course on Climate Smart Farm Business School (CSFBS) at the Redd Manor Condotel here.
This special training program was led by the Agricultural Training Institute Regional Office (ATI)-Central Luzon, with the collaboration of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) Foundation.
City Mayor Edwin Santiago, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) OIC Provincial Director Jenica Dunglao, ATI RTC 3 Center Director Veronica Esguerra, Staff Chief Rhaegee Tamaña, and Department of Tourism (DOT)-Central Luzon Tourism Operation Officer Chrisselle May Yambao graced the graduation program.
Santiago congratulated the farm owners and stressed that the farmers are the true heroes, entrepreneurs and the real models of the society who made San Fernando a sustainable city.
Esguerra said the training will also benefit the farm owners in terms of accreditation with TESDA and ATI.
Aside from this, Esguerra also cited an increase of their income and capability in becoming a farm tourism destination due to their participation in the said training.
According to Esguerra, the objectives of this course are to provide opportunities in the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), discuss the transformational leadership, climate change and its impact to agriculture, participatory disaster risk management and to identify the Climate Smart practices: the Adaptation and Mitigation strategies.
“We, ATI, would want the important module of CSFBS, which is ‘farming is a business’, be instilled into the minds of the farm owners because we want to teach them the basic skills of decision-making, and computing the profits and expenses by implementing a business plan,” she said.
The farm owners were chosen by the ATI and the SIPAG organization to become a part of the free training course.
The Farm Business School Training is conducted on the months of March, May and October of every year.