The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is encouraging more farmers, cooperatives, and entrepreneurs to establish more farm schools in their respective localities to further spur rural development.
Speaking at the start of the “Training of Facilitators on Farm Business School” seminar, Tesda Deputy Director-General Aniceto Bertiz III said increased agriculture-based training can improve the productivity and competitiveness of farmers.
He noted Filipino farmers make around P2,300 monthly for every half-hectare of land tilled and most do not earn enough to support their families.
“This training has been designed so that our farmers will have the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help increase their agricultural production through new technologies and entrepreneurial activities,”he said.
As part of its enterprise-based training or “EBT to the Max” initiative, Tesda has been implementing the Program on Accelerating Farm School Establishment (PAFSE) to promote farm schools and the use of a “farmer to farmer, learning by doing” methodology.
To be able to offer agri-related programs, farms can be less than one hectare or larger than 10 hectares. Some 62 training programs may be registered with Tesda and offered to the public under the PAFSE.
These include such qualification titles as agricultural crop production, aquaculture, horticulture, organic agriculture production, rice machinery operations, and animal production, among others.
Costs of training and assessment will be covered by Tesda’s Training for Work Scholarship Program.
Target beneficiaries of the program include farmers and fisherfolk and their relatives, as well as members of the community where the farm school is situated.
To date, there are 399 Tesda-registered farmer field school programs that are implemented in various farm schools as well as private and public institutions nationwide. – PIA
