Meanwhile, I am seeing Double. As a cockeyed optimist, that’s what I am doing with the launching by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar of the “Mentoring and Attracting Youth in Agribusiness” (MAYA) Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
How is that? One:Youth learning agriculture as a business – happily. Two: Adults & Seniors learning agriculture as a way of life – unhappily. How? Seeing is dis/believing!
The news release from the DA says, “Thousands Apply For Youth Agribiz Mentorship Program[1]” (11 February 2021, DA.gov.ph). On 09 February 2021, MAYA had announced the opening of 800 youth scholarships. Immediately, “The online system was deluged with interested individuals, exceeding by four-fold the required number of interns.” Wanted: 800 MAYA scholars. Responded: 3,000 applicants.
(upper image[2] from DA website)
The young would-be farmers connect!
Already, the 800 are winners: Each MAYA scholar is entitled to a monthly allowance of P20,000 (US$400). And that allowance is only a start.
MAYA is accepting and will be mentoring Filipinos 20-30 years old, graduate of any 4- or 5-year degree course, preferably in agriculture, fisheries, and agribusiness. Says Director Vivencio Mamaril, who is head of the Bureau of Agricultural Research, the DA agency in-charge:
MAYA will be conducted through experiential learning, or a learner-centric methodology, that allows the interns to put into immediate use the knowledge and skills that they’ve learned in a relevant fashion.
In short: Now you know it; now you do it!
That is to say, it’s not the books, it’s not the looks – it’s the application. You don’t learn by knowing: you learn by doing.
This is a 6-month internship program, 24 weeks actual. The 800 will be deployed to different DA national (Office of the Secretary) and regional field offices.
After that, what? They may either opt for an agri-fishery business or pursue a career in the DA or any government agency.
For the business, the MAYA scholar may apply for a zero-interest loan with the DA’s Agricultural and Credit Policy Council (ACPC). With a proper proposal, naturally.
That’s the future. We go back to the present: If farming is not a business, what business have our current farmers doing it!?
Why does farming in the Philippines remain a bad business proposition? Because farmers don’t treat it as a business! Instead, they treat it as a way of life – wasteful fertilizing as a way of life, wasteful spraying against pests as a way of life, wasteful transplanting as a way of life, usurious 5-6 loans as a way of life, low farmgate prices as a way of life.
Ipinanganak tayong mahirap, brod! Anak ng magsasaka. Kaya. (We were born poor, brother! Son of a farmer. So.)
If farming is not a business, what business have farmers doing it!?
The problem with the old farmers is that they look at farming as a way of life, not as a way of bettering a life! Now, they will have to learn from the youth.
So? Forward the 800!@517
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