Tarlac Farmers to Benefit from DAR’s Farm Business School Program

SCHOOL IS NOW IN SESSION for farmers who want to boost their entrepreneurial skills. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has launched a Farm Business School (FBS) Program to help educate Tarlac farmers in managing their farm produce and in optimizing their profitability.

43 farmers belonging to the Bacabac Farmers Producers’ Cooperative (BFPC) and Bacabac Gintong Ani Farmers’ Association Inc. (BGAFAI) in Barangay Bacabac in Camiling, Tarlac will benefit from this program.

One of the priorities of the DAR is to hone the skills of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in handling and marketing their farm products.

According to Provincial Agrarian Reform program officer Lleona Pangilinan, the farmers will undergo 25 sessions of FBS for four months. During those months, they will learn the business side of agriculture using their own local environment.

“The learning process will be interactive as the farmers will learn from each other. The facilitators will be there to teach and develop their capacity in running a profitable farm business by honing the farmers into becoming better farm managers and entrepreneurs that can respond to business and market requirements,” Pangilinan said.

A memorandum of agreement was signed by the DAR, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), DA-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI), and the local government units (LGUs) to aid farmer-beneficiaries in Barangay Bacabac, which led to the creation of the FBS program.

The program’s main goal is to turn farmers into farmer-entrepreneurs said Provincial FBS project point person Jailynn Dimalanta.

“When this group of farmers becomes entrepreneurs, they gain collective bargaining power and thus giving them leverage and command with regard to the price of their produce,” Dimalanta said.

Provincial Agrarian Reform program officer Geraldine Yumul, on the other hand, advised the farmers to heed the call of farm-entrepreneurship. In doing so, farmers might be able to contribute to the overall share of the agriculture sector to the country’s gross domestic product.

Three other ARBOs will join the BFPC and BGAFAI in the FBS program including the Ablang-Sapang Multipurpose Cooperative from the town of Moncada, Golden Pance 125 Multipurpose Cooperative (MPC) and First Progress Agricultural Cooperative, which are both located in Ramos, Tarlac.

Last year, the first beneficiary of the FBS project was the Mabulod Green Farm Producers’ Cooperative in Sula located in the municipality of San Jose. 32 farmers completed the 25 sessions of the FBS program and are now expected to become farmer-entrepreneurs in their communities.

via Manila Bulletin / Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz