PILI, Camarines Sur – “When we were planning ATIng UMA, we hoped that people who visit ATI will learn something new about farming,” ATI Bicol Center Director explained when asked by foreign students how the Center-based Learning Site came about.
The students visited ATI Bicol particularly ATIng UMA as part of their agritourism studies in the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University.
The visit was facilitated by the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) and the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB) through UPLB Professor, Dr. Malu Malabayas, as well as UPLB-CBSUA Cohort Student-Faculty, Don Ramti Bendaña and Jill Rodriguez.
Led by Professor Higashimura Takeshi, the visiting Nagoya University students were Xiaomemg Li, Myrian Coronel, Sabai Phu, and Xingwei Dong. They are conduct overseas fieldwork in the Agritourism Field.
Alexander Vargas, Training Specialist I and Focal Person for Learning Sites of Agriculture (LSA), toured the group around the 12 components of ATIng UMA. He explained that the mnemonics UMA stands for Unlimited Mentoring in Agriculture. “Uma” is also a Bikolano word which means farm.
