In the small town of Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay lives a 29-year-old Bangsamoro Tausug 4-H club member named Alcazer A. Amil. With an overflowing passion for agriculture, Mr. Amil is not an ordinary young farmer in their municipality. He holds on to his desire to make a difference in the Bangsamoro Tausug community not just by being an inspiration to the youth but also to promote agriculture in the area.

Mr. Amil tirelessly seeks opportunities in the agricultural and fisheries sector for him to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to sustain his poultry farm, fish pond, and vegetable farm. The 2022 Binhi ng Pag-asa Program (BPP) became one of the major opportunities for Mr. Amil who also joined and became a 2021 awardee of the Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) Program (individual category) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

BPP gave him a great opportunity to partner with the other young farmers in his province as he is one of the BPP Provincial Training beneficiaries. Being a Tausug young farmer, the free-range native chicken production training with free starter kit opened doors for Mr. Amil to enhance his knowledge on new technologies and grow his poultry income.

For his starter kit, he received ten (10) pullets, two (2) cockerels, breeders/layer feeds, crack corn, chick booster, antibiotics, and multivitamins. Mr. Amil who lives with his parents and siblings made sure to provide the chickens with the necessary manpower and supervision for their day-to-day operations. Together with his family, Mr. Amil also constructed a poultry house in the backyard of their home.

As of today, Mr. Amil dedicates his time and effort to grow his free-range native chicken by the numbers. At the same time, Mr. Amil and his family benefitted from the harvested eggs and poultry meat for consumption in the household. He also shares his knowledge with friends, relatives, and other 4-H club members.

 “Losses are inevitable, but with the knowledge and skills on free-range chicken production that I have acquired from the BPP Training, I can manage to get back on track. Being one of the BPP beneficiaries is something that I will carry with me for a lifetime. The experience, the new learnings, the free starter kits, the inspiration I got from the trainers and co-participants, and the positive influence I give to the Tausug youth, are just some of the many things that the BPP has planted within me and I will forever be grateful for that.”

The BPP was able to tap potential young farmers in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay and reactivated most of the 4-H club members in the different municipalities. Mr. Amil was also able to showcase his talent in video making as he was the regional contestant in a video documentary-making contest during the 2022 BPP  National Summit Year-End Assessment.

Being the first province in the Zamboanga Peninsula to become a beneficiary of the Binhi ng Pag-asa Program, Zamboanga Sibugay Province is truly grateful for such intervention not just for helping the youth in the grassroots, but for sowing a Binhi ng Pag-asa seed for a Bangsamoro Tausug young farmer like Mr. Amil.