DAR Eastern Visayas launches second farm business school

BONTOC, Southern Leyte, April 30 (PNA) – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has launched its second farm business school in Eastern Visayas in the bid to prepare agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) to be globally competitive.

DAR Regional Director Sheila Enciso said this project, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Agricultural Training Institute, the local government unit and the concerned ARBO, is among the various support services extended to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

The initiative is under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) aimed not only at increasing farmers' income, but will also contribute to food security.

Enciso said Buenavista-Pamahawan ARBs Multi-Purpose Cooperative is fortunate to be included in the 15 ARBOs identified nationwide to be trained in farm business school this year.

The government provided a funding of PHP150,000 to each of the 15 identified sites for the conduct of the 25 sessions.

The “school” is an on-site training where the farmers will not only learn about high value crops production, but marketing strategies as well.

In farm business school, the farmers are being groomed to be agricultural entrepreneurs, she stressed.

Forty members of the Buenavista-Pamahawan ARBs Multi-Purpose Cooperative have been identified to participate in this training that will run for 25 sessions wherein the participants and the facilitators agreed to meet every Thursday.

During the launching, authorized representatives from the DAR, local government unit, village council and the concerned ARBO signed a memorandum of agreement in support of the project.

Meanwhile, the recipient of the first farm business school in Region-8 that was implemented last year, the Hantag Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Inc. in Hantag village in Maasin City is now waiting for the El Niño to end before planting. (PNA)

ZST/SQM/DAR-PR/EGR