Impasug-ong, Bukidnon- “Mapasalamaton kami kay talagsaon ra mi nga maka apil ani nga mga programa. Gusto pa mi makakat-on ug mas daghan pa nga teknolohiya aron mulambo ang among panguma.” (“We are very thankful because we seldom join this kind of training. We want to learn more technologies to make our farming progressive.) This was relayed by a participant from Impasug-ong, Bukidnon to Mr. Phillip Villegas of ATI-RTC X. Mr. Villegas is the Farmer Scientist Training Program Project Officer and Facilitator. He said that this sentiment has been expressed by many of the participants.
With the launching of the Farmer-Scientists RDE Training Program (FSTP) on August 28, 2020 in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon, the 21 corn-farmer participants meet once a week to study the corn from seed to seed, and to discuss different problems during production and come up with solutions. For week 8, the participants did the germination count, processing, and reporting.
The FSTP aims to develop farmers’ technical and scientific capabilities in growing corn and other crops by utilizing appropriate and available technologies. The trainings are done through a ladderized approach. FSTP Phase 1 covers Value Formation, Research Exposure, and Technical Empowerment and will be conducted for 1 cropping season, from land preparation to harvesting and post harvest. This training is expected to end on December, 2020 and is jointly facilitated by 2 Agricultural Extension Technologists from the Municipal Agriculture Office.
Other Local Government Units conducting FSTP Phase include Malaybalay (20 participants), Kitaotao (30), and Don Carlos (20). They have been provided with seeds (OPV and some hybrid corn varieties) and other inputs for the study area.