MAJAYJAY, Laguna –Through the Young Farmers Program (YFP), the rural youth is being trained and empowered to become competent Agripreneurs in their respective localities.

Over the years, the Agricultural Training Institute has been creating opportunities for young farmers to become not just producers, but also entrepreneurs. ATI’s YFP and 4-H Clubs are youth development programs geared towards harnessing the potentials of young people as major contributors in community development.

The Binhi ng Pag-asa Program is a holistic project which aims to promote agriculture and agri-preneurship to the youth, giving them access to entrepreneurial skills and development in agriculture. The main concept is to train selected youth in the province through a 4-day Training of Trainers (ToT), who will in turn assist in conducting trainings down to the community level or LGU.

The ToT is comprised of a two-day agricultural and two-day leadership and values formation training; whereas, the topics for the local trainings had been identified through a series of consultations and needs assessment activities from the community. To complete the project, trained participants are given an agricultural start-up kit which would allow them to grow their own crops. The kit will be composed of agricultural inputs for crop production such as assorted seeds [based on the local agri-production situation], basic gardening tools, and Vermicast among others.

The program is targeting a total of 8,909 youth beneficiaries across 291 cities and municipalities in the 10 carefully chosen provinces in the country, in which Laguna and Quezon province had been selected for CaLaBaRZon region. Currently, two teams from the Agricultural Training Institute in Region IV-A are conducting the series of provincial and municipal trainings in the said provinces.

The provincial ToT ran from May – June 2017, whereas, the municipal trainings are ongoing from June until November this year. The culmination activity and end-term assessment is scheduled on December, which will also serve as a way for participants to share experiences and network with fellow participants.

In one of the provincial ToT trainings, Mr. Ephraim Jamias from Famy Laguna shared his impression about the activity.

"Dahil sa pagsasanay na ito, naging masaya at nagkaroon ako ng malalim na pananaw sa buhay, upang ipagpatuloy ang nasimulan sa paghahalaman. Dahil sa seminar na ito, lalo akong na-motivate, at nagkaroon ng mga batayan, upang maging gabay ko upang maging isang mabuting kabataang magsasaka na nag-lalayong maging matagumpay, hindi lamang para sa aking sarili, kundi pati sa pamilya at komunidad," he said.

The Binhi ng Pag-asa program is slowly touching the lives of young hopefuls to become exemplary citizens in their communities as well as to other fellow youth.