Young Female Champions In Agriculture (YFCA) – My Single Challenge To The PH Department Of Agriculture And Leni Robredo’s Angat Buhay – Winners All!
Bella Cariaso
says, “Young Farmers Program Kicks Off” (01 Sept 2022, Manila Times, manilatimes.net).
Last year, 2021, Rosette Adel says
the DA “launched a program that seeks to provide financial grant assistance to
youth interested in the agri-fishery sector” (11 June 2021, “DA Seeks Competitive Youth For ‘Young
Farmers Challenge’ Agribusiness Grant,” PhilStar
Global, Philstar.com)
– but Ms Rosette herself does not provide the exact date of launching of the
YFC; we leave it at that.
More importantly, I note that Ms Bella says the YFC is attracting
the youth to farming in any of the following areas: production, processing, packaging,
fabrication of farm machinery, and digital technology. The YFC grants P50,000 to individual winners and P100,000 to group winners at the
provincial level; P150,000 to each of 3 regional winners; and P300,000 to each of 6 national winners. In
total, adding from provincial to national, each national winner actually accumulates
P500,000 (half a million).
Ms Bella says at least 1,700 provincial YFC winners will now
enter the regional round. At least P150
million has been allocated by the DA to the YFC Fund. She explains that the
national winners will be selected “in terms of the applicant's entrepreneurial
attributes, innovativeness of the business proposal, potential for generating
revenue stream, value addition and social responsibility.”
For this year, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance
Service (AMAS) officially launched the Young Farmers Challenge Program on 31 March
2022. The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) provides training services as
necessary, while the Agricultural
Credit Policy Council (ACPC) provides the funds. AMAS, ATI and ACPC are constituents
of the DA.
With
the YFC, young Filipinos of 18-30 years of age are being challenged to provide new
blood to PH Agriculture – which is all Conventional or Chemical
Agriculture (CA). What about new ideas, like Organic Agriculture
(OA)?
The American Rodale Institute says
(“Organic Vs Conventional Farming,” rodaleinstitute.org):
Conventional and
organic farming methods have different consequences on the environment and
people. Conventional agriculture causes increased greenhouse gas emissions,
soil erosion, water pollution, and threatens human health. Organic farming has
a smaller carbon footprint, conserves and builds soil health, replenishes
natural ecosystems for cleaner water and air, all without toxic pesticide
residues.
The DA is encouraging new ideas about old PH agriculture – why
not Organic Agriculture (OA)? Since OA is healthier and much cheaper, it is
pro-farmers and anti-poverty!
(image sources: “YFC” from bar.gov.ph,
“Women Winners” from olympics.com,
“Angat Buhay” from carousell.ph)
For
the sake of Mother Filipinas, I’m encouraging Ma'am Leni and Angat Buhay to
come up with funds for the new “Young
Female Champions of Agriculture” (YFCA). Then, YFCA will cultivate organic
agriculture for healthier and wealthier families!@517
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