Education and focused-training courses are needed to attract young blood and bring fresh ideas to agriculture, because the belief that there is dwindling interest in agriculture among the youth is false.
Sen. Cynthia Villar made this statement during the two-day workshop called “Youth as Agri-Entrepreneurs: Strengthening Agricultural Youth Organizations for Poverty Reduction.”
“I have talked to students and youth leaders in various parts of the country, and I can say that there is still adequate interest in agriculture. We just have to keep that interest going. We have to keep their desire to get involved in agriculture alive,” Villar said.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food said involving the youth in agriculture is crucial, considering that Filipino farmers are getting old, with their average age pegged at 57.
Villar said the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has allotted P500 million for the agricultural training of 45,000 scholars.
She also continues to pursue access to agricultural-training opportunities for the youth through the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
“We are, however, still looking for more schools or educational institutions to include agriculture-related modules in their course offerings. Andun na ang budget at scholarship, ang mga eskwelahan na lang ang kulang at mga agri courses,” she said.
Through the courses, she said, farmers and their children or family members will learn the operation and maintenance of modern machines, farm management, financial literacy, accounting and entrepreneurship.
“The availability of agriculture-related scholarship grants, combined with the implementation of the Youth Entrepreneurship Act of 2014—the inclusion of entrepreneurship as a separate subject in secondary education—no doubt provide the much-needed boost in our campaign to produce more youth as agri-entrepreneurs,” Villar said.
The workshop was initiated by Villar’s SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance), with the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Training Institute and was held in Pulang Lupa Uno, Las Piñas.
Around a hundred youth leaders from different parts of the country attended the event.
The participants are current vice presidents of the 4H Club of the Philippines, also known as the country’s young farmers.