Participants during their brainstorming session under the SPIN Workshop.
TIGBAUAN, Iloilo - ATI Region 6 prepared young Ilonggo farmers to become competent and effective agripreneurs through the Skills Training on Leadership and Agriculture Technologies under the provincial level training of the Binhi ng Pag-Asa Program (BPP).
This training was conducted in two batches respectively; on July 19-21 at Sol y Mar Family Beach Resort, Tigbauan, Iloilo for the first batch, and on August 2-4, 2022 at MO2 Westown Hotel, Iloilo City for the second batch. It was participated in by sixty (60) young farmers in the province of Iloilo.
Office of Senator Grace Poe (OSGP) Political Officer, Armani Miguel G. Narca, opened the program with heart-warming words on behalf of Senator Grace Poe, encouraging the youth to not just engage in agriculture, but to become successful agripreneurs.
A series of leadership and values formation lectures developed by the OSGP were conducted during the first day. Other topics and activities include the national socioeconomic profile of the Philippines, Situation, Problem, Implication and Needs (SPIN) Workshop, agricultural legislations, agripreneurship and farming in social media. Agriculture technologies subjects were also tackled, including organic vegetable and livestock production, preparation of project proposal and action plan, product packaging and labeling and basic farm record keeping.
During the culminating activity youth participant, Aljon P. Grande expressed, “This training helped us to become more knowledgeable in the field of agriculture. As a young leader or a young farmer, this training will lead me to share and inculcate ideas to our local farmers. The resource speakers enlightened me, because I only know basic farming and some of the ideas that the speaker taught us are new to me. Sharing ideas, opinions, and suggestions helped me become more knowledgeable. Binhi ng Pag-Asa Program proved that every grain of rice is a hope. We, the young farmers will lead. We are the drivers of a productive future. I am thankful that I am part of this program.”
As part of their output, youth participants committed to prepare project proposals and action plans pertaining to their project of choice.
Being true to its commitment, ATI Region 6 will continue to uphold its commitment to strengthen competency and competitiveness through capability building and providing after-training support to the young generation of farmers in Western Visayas.
