For the Department of Agriculture (DA), I’m thinking of Reverse Psychology for target youth in agribusiness: “Guys & gals, get paid to study! We pay you.” These are 18-30 years old, boys and girls selected by a pertinent body.
“We” means a multipurpose cooperative (MPC) that the DA will help fund via a selective youth-for-agribiz program via the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC). Instead of the youth paying to study, the ACPC pays them to attend classes in a year-long training program. After the training, the youth can apply for a loan to support an agriculture-related business they desire.
(farm tourists image[1] from BusinessMirror)
Note that I’m coming from my own original, radical thought of Towards Cooperative Agriculture birthed in my new blog ToCA, ToCA (01 May 2021) in my essay, “Towards Organic ‘Cooperative Agriculture’ Starting With The Philippines! Sec Dar, Why Not[2]?”
A BSA major in Ag Edu graduate of UP Los Baños and with a Civil Service Professional license, my thoughts are as follows on the training program:
Trainees & Locations – At any one time, there will be a minimum of 12 trainees, boys & girls, in each DA Region. Necessarily, the trainees will come from the region they will be trained in.
Week One – On Day One, courtesy of the program, the boys and girls are each gifted a modern cellphone with good image and sound recording capabilities worth around P10K. They will then meet their trainors and can begin to use their gadgets immediately.
The trainees are then introduced to members of the sponsoring MPC and get to understand the operations as well as acquainted with the Board of Directors and members in a General Assembly. The Board will interview them. hey can also ask questions.
Week Two – The trainees will be introduced into the whole training program, subject matters & locations, including tackling the allowances that they are entitled to. All the presentations will be digital and can be copied for review by the trainees at their pleasure.
On the second day of Week Two, the trainees will be brought to a successful tourist farm or farm school, where they can witness the operations and ask questions (image above).
Week Three – The actual farming begins following the requirements of the crops to be grown by the trainees. At least 2 different crops will be grown in the area designated by the DA Regional Office concerned.
And so on and so forth. The proper and complete training program will have to be produced before any training can start, and agreed upon by the DA and the MPC in that location. This will take at least 2 weeks of daily meetings and discussions, whether physical or virtual.
It is important, nay essential, that the training on DA-assisted youth farming be targeted towards optimum costs all the way, along with optimum returns – that is, farming is sustainable in both planting seasons. Entrepreneurship is not seen in a single total net but in many repeated total nets.@
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