ROSARIO, La Union- In partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center 1 (ATI-RTC 1), the College of Agriculture of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University-South La Union Campus (DMMMSU-SLUC) conducted the Off-Season Vegetable Production (Gulayan sa Tag-ulan) Training on April 22-26, 2019 at DMMMSU-SLUC, Rosario, La Union. The training was funded by ATI-RTC I as part of its grant system.

With the theme: “Enhancing the Productivity of Integrated Diversified Farm and Community Based Food Processing Programs”, the five-day training was participated by 30 farmers and farm practitioners from Ilocos Region. The activity aimed to help vegetable growers attain higher yield and profit by reducing cost of production, increase awareness of farmers on the off-season production technology of lowland vegetables, help farmers manage the infestation of pest and diseases, enhance/develop their critical thinking abilities and make them better decision makers and experts in their own fields, and gather the vegetable growers and have an intellectual exchange of ideas and technologies with other farmers.

“You might not be able to use the learning you gained on the topic “Managing a Training- The ATI Way” after you finished the course, but you can still use it when you are going to conduct a training,” ATI-RTC 1 Assistant Center Director, Dr. Melinda Mangabat said.

The training employed lectures, hands-on exercises, and field trip. Professor Jesus Gapuz of DMMMSU-SLUC discussed the overview of the training program. Some of the lectures discoursed were introduction and importance of off-season production, factors to consider in developing a farm seed variety selection, fertilizer computation and application, irrigation management and techniques, and integrated pest management. Hands-on activities such as soil media preparation and sterilization, sowing seeds, land preparation, lay outing and bed preparation, installation of plastic mulch and planting, watering, and fertilizer application were demonstrated during the training. Participants were grouped into five, and each group prepared and presented their action plan.

As a highlight of the training, participants had their educational tour and field trip on April 26, 2019 at the Philippine Rice Research Institute, Batac City (PhilRice-Batac City). They also visited Duran Farm in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.