Mambajao, Camiguin— “ Tumanon ta gayod, ang atong mga saad, kasakit og kalipay yayongan tang tanan.” Classic visayan song titled “Samtang ako may kinabuhi pa” is the batch song of the 22 graduates of the recently concluded Season-Long Training of Trainers (TOT) on Cacao Production conducted by the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center 10 at Barangay Anito, Mambajao, Camiguin on September 27, 2017.
The song reflects the promise of the participants to successfully contribute to the strengthening of the cacao industry in the island by applying what they learned from the training.
The graduates were composed of cacao farmers and farming enthusiasts from the different Municipalities in Mambajao, to wit: Barangay Yumbing, Barangay Kuguita, Barangay Poblacion, Barangay Balbagon , Barangay Magting and Barangay Anito. There were also Agriculture Technicians (AT) from the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) of Mambajao and the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) who joined.
“ In ATI, you cannot teach what you do not know and what you do not practice. We were thankful that there were Agriculture Technicians who graduated today and aspired to improve their knowledge.” commended Ms. Maria Lydia A. Echavez, Training Center Superintendent-I in her response message to the participants.
Ms. Echavez also encouraged the participants to involve their children in farming. “Let’s show our children that there is money in farming. Let’s treat farming as a business.” she concluded.
The said Season-Long training was a 16-week class of combined lectures of theories and hands-on activities on various technologies on cacao production every Thursday of the week. The session was held in a cacao plantation owned by Hon. Teodolo Pambatao where participants can have their immediate application of the lectures. Hon. Pambatao’s farm is one of the known diversified farms in the area, and cacao is just one of its priority commodities.
Likewise, the Provincial Agriculture Office of Camiguin through its representative Mr. Cris Loquillano expressed their support to the graduates, “We will be receiving 15,000 seedlings of cacao from the Department of Agriculture (DA). 2,000 of the seedlings will be distributed to you, but remember that cacao cultivation is not for the lazy people.”, he emphasized in his message on behalf of Engr. Renero Torion, the Provincial Agriculturist of Camiguin.
The season-long activity which commenced on June 1, 2017, was conducted in partnership with LGU- Camiguin.