CONCEPCION UNO, Marikina City—As the country embraces the new normal, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) continues to explore partnerships to better serve the agri-fishery clientele, including those in the education sector.

On June 16, 2021, the ATI and the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) soft-launched “AgriCOOLture” video series which offer fun and educational content to motivate urban youth and their families to incorporate farming into their everyday life.

A short meeting was held in Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina City where faculty members and parents of the students joined officials from the city government, ATI, and KCFI in a show of support to the initiative. Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro graced the activity and related it with his urban agriculture project along Marikina River. 

Under the ATI and KCFI partnership, seven episodes of “AgriCOOLture Kasama sina Kuya Edward at Buknoy” will be aired on Knowledge Channel and its other partner stations nationwide. These episodes introduce the basics of planting and simple urban farming technologies in support to the Department of Agriculture’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” Program.

During the soft launch, “agrikits” or agricultural learning kits for basil, hot pepper, and tomato were also provided for the school. School principal Jenny David accepted these on behalf of the faculty, students, and parents. The kits contain basic gardening inputs such as soil, coconut husk pot, seeds, fertilizer infused compost, organic fertilizer, wooden plant marker, and instructional guide.

David noted that such programs are welcomed in the school as these will give the students additional knowledge. Meanwhile, home economics and livelihood education teacher Isaac Cruzada, Jr. shared that the agrikits will allow them to add more crops in their school garden.

To pre-test and determine the videos' acceptability, a virtual focus group discussion was conducted among selected students and teachers from Concepcion Elementary School in February 2021. 

Officials present in the activity include KCFI Manager for Transmedia Ian Gaite, and ATI-Information Services Division assistant chief Pamela Mappala.