Cebu City youths join DA’s farmers training
More than a hundred youth in Cebu City have participated in the recently concluded Binhi ng Pag-asa training caravan of the Department of Agriculture.
Binhi ng Pag-asa targets to train at least 9,000 youth beneficiaries from around 300 cities and municipalities nationwide. The program aims to train young people on handson farming in vegetable production, livestock and poultry breeding combined with leadership and values formation.
Senator Grace Poe, a staunched advocate of the agriculture sector, emphasized the importance of youth participation in the agricultural sector in backing the program.
Poe said training the youth in agri-business will help revitalize the agricultural sector towards a more inclusive growth for the country.
"We should make agriculture attractive to the youth through proper training and support that will propel their interest in farming that will help strengthen the sector,” the senator said in a press statement.
Poe added that it is imperative to create new programs to diversify agriculture and increase farming productivity.
She said that the agriculture sector posted 25.5 percent in employment share according to latest government data and would be very instrumental to rural development.
"Engaging the youth and empowering them with new trends, technologies, fresh entrepreneurial approaches and fundamental management skills will lead to a successful agribusiness sector and will ensure the country's food security," she said.
Poe is likewise pushing for important legislations the agricultural sector such as providing credit support to farmers, linking farming to school feeding programs, pushing for mandatory crop insurance, free irrigation, corporative farming and scholarship for young farmers.