DILIMAN, Quezon City — The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), through its Regional Training Centers (RTCs), spearheaded the roll-out of Provincial Trainings in five target provinces last August 2 to 25, 2021. A total of eight training batches were conducted in Nueva Ecija, Albay, Camarines Sur, Aklan, and Davao de Oro.
These trainings under the Binhi ng Pag-Asa Program (BPP) are instrumental in fulfilling the goal of gradually mending the constant decline of Filipinos engaged in agriculture, alongside the growing generational gap among farmers.
Participants of the provincial trainings were 152 young leaders, and youth with basic knowledge on agriculture, and are from the participating local communities around the country.
BPP is made possible through the initiative of the Office of Senator Grace Poe (OSGP), with the belief that our country still thrives in cultivating excellent agricultural produce amidst challenges. During the BPP program launch, Sen. Poe remarked, “Ang ating magsasaka [ay] ang ating kinabukasan,” in her video message for the youth.
Meanwhile, ATI Center Directors Mario Lapitan of RTC-III, Esla Parot of RTC-V, Eden Bautista, PhD of RTC-VI, and Dante Esguerra of RTC-XI also gave messages of inspiration to their respective regional participants, to bring out their courage to become determined BPP beneficiaries.
The said provincial trainings have two components: leadership, and technical. The leadership component is taught by the OSGP staff, together with some graduates of the National Training of Trainers (TOT) on Leadership. Topics were related to the National Social Situationer, Social Media as a Tool in Agriculture, and Marketing and Selling Produce, among others. While topics for the technical agricultural component include, “Hito sa Dram”, Native na Manok, “Palakihing Baboy”, and Tilapia sa Dram. Different applicable modules were also introduced through the RTCs, in case some of the pre-identified topics are not available.
After the training program, the youth participants are expected to ‘culture’ the starter kits given to them, and assist in the conduct of city and municipal trainings when the need arises.