LAOAG CITY – At least eight farmers associations, most of them with indigent members from this city and Dingras town, on Thursday accepted the challenge to become agripreneurs through the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan farming program.
Under the program, some 200 farmer-participants will undergo 14 weeks of hands-on lectures, spanning from modern farming methods to marketing and business principles, to update their agricultural knowledge and skills to improve their living conditions.
Each farmers association with 25 members has a designated demonstration site for them to apply their learning in practical agriculture, assisted by accredited trainors.
They will also come up with a livelihood proposal with a seed capital of PHP500,000.
These then will be complemented by the offices of Ilocos Norte Reps. Ferdinand Alexander Marcos and Angelo Marcos Barba, along with other government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine Carabao Center, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, and Department of Labor and Employment, among others, for the provision of any assistance the participants may need.
The program is spearheaded by SM Foundation Inc. in partnership with various government agencies and local government units. It has a grant of PHP10 million as seed capital and cash-for-work under the Sustainable Livelihood Program and the Project Lawa at Binhi of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Rogerio Bismonte III, DSWD partnership officer in Ilocos Region, said past graduates of the program in the region have turned into agri-entrepreneurs who participate in government bidding projects while others have turned into millionaire cooperatives.
“We are so thankful to be part of this program. We expanded our learning in organic farming particularly on high-value crops production,” Maethelyn Casal, one of pioneering beneficiaries of the Kabalikat program in Barangay Bacsil in this city, said.
“We learned new ways in farming without just depending on a good weather. With the all-out support from the government and private partners, various marketing opportunities have opened up for us to increase our income,” she added.
Using a PHP500,000 grant, Ferdinand Claro, president of the Lataag Farmers Association in this city, said they are now engaged in poultry raising, which they plan to expand from the initial 300 heads.
Claro said they are also into organic farm production without using chemicals to promote healthy living and the environment.
With the next batch of farmers ready to start their training, Bismonte reiterated the importance of public and private synergy to address hunger and poverty.
“Under the enhanced partnership against hunger and poverty program, this initiative aims to achieve food security and end poverty,” he said.
He added they have re-engineered the implementation of Kabalikat program in the Ilocos Region and scaled it up to establish agricultural enterprises that are responsive to the demands of the government-led feeding programs and the conduct of SM weekend market where organized farmers associations can sell their products to a wider market.
To sustain similar programs, Barba said in a media interview on Thursday that there is a need to institutionalize the implementation of sustainable livelihood programs “not only to benefit more farmers but also fishermen, among others.”
For her part, Cristina Angeles, assistant vice president of SM Foundation Inc., challenged the new Kabalikat trainees to take advantage of the different support services given to them to become not just food producers but also agripreneurs that contribute to country’s economic growth. (PNA)