BUTUAN CITY - A total of 26 youth interns under the Organic Agriculture and Corn Program and local government unit (LGU) coordinators came together to strengthen their entrepreneurial mindset and enhance their capacity to view farming as a business through a five-day Training on Business Enterprise Plan (BEP) Development conducted by the Agricultural Training Institute–Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) XIII.

The training, held from October 13–17, 2025, aimed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills needed to design practical and sustainable Business Enterprise Plans (BEPs) in organic agriculture. Each proposed enterprise was eligible for a ₱150,000 support grant to assist in its implementation.

The activity enabled the participants to gain a deeper understanding of business planning through discussions on key BEP components and the use of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) to visualize and apply strategic approaches in their enterprise frameworks. To complement the lectures, they also joined field visits to farms engaged in value-adding activities such as the ARDA Integrated Farm (Coconut-Cacao Product Processing), Olivier Ecovillage Farm (Swine Production and Processed Products), and EM Nature Farm (Poultry Production). These immersive experiences provided firsthand exposure to agribusiness operations, allowing participants to refine their enterprise ideas through shared learning and best practices.

With its aim to nurture young agripreneurs by empowering them with skills, confidence, and vision to pursue innovative and sustainable ventures in agriculture, the participants presented and successfully defended their BMC and BEP before evaluators from ATI-RTC XIII and the Department of Agriculture – Caraga Region.