LAMUT, Ifugao – Fifty-three corn farmers successfully graduated from Farm Business School (FBS) in Corn Farming System, facilitated by the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) in collaboration with the municipal government, held recently at Sitio Nunhabatan, Hapid, Lamut, Ifugao.
The season-long program ran from May to September this year with the graduates coming from the Nunhabatan Upland Farmers and Livelihood Association (NUFLA) and Nunhabatan Indigenous Farmers Association (NIFA).
Mayor Conrado Buccat congratulated all the graduates and gave advice on how to put the new technologies learned acquired into practice, “I know that your learnings from the FBS will be imbued within you as long as you still have the strength to farm.
We are hoping that you will use and share everything you have learned to increase your production and profit,” he said.
Meanwhile, Provincial Agriculturist Dr. Domingo B. Mariano underscored the importance of the farmers for food security and the economy, “You are the most important sector in the society as your industriousness and skillfulness are suited for all seasons. You are important because your production will significantly boost the economy,” he stated. He also added the low statistics of enrolment in agriculture, as the current average age of farmers in the country is 57 years old.
According to Charlemagne Monayao, Ifugao Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer, one of the goals of the FBS program is to capacitate farmers to become entrepreneurs, because farming is also a business. He also told a story about gold on a farm, in which the farm successors recognized that the gold their father was referring to was actually the crops grown that will enable them to generate money.
Special awards were also given to six senior citizens to recognize their effort in finishing the FBS program despite their ages.
In closing, Benita Indao, one of the graduates, expressed how fortunate and blessed it was that the NUFLA and NIFA were to chosen by DA-CAR to receive funding for techno-demo farms, “Agyaman kami unay ta nag-ado nga banbanag, bassit man wenno dakkel para kenyayo, ket dakkel kenyami nga ingka pagayamanan ta dakkel ti inbaliwan na ti wagas nga panagkuman mi. Dagitoy inted yo ket ikabil mi ti panpanunot mi tapnu ingkami itultuloy nga aramiden kadagiti wagas nga insuro yo kenyami, (We are grateful for all the assistance for us to, this is a big help as it greatly changed our way of farming. We will remember everything that you gave us so that we can carry on the agricultural practice you have taught us), she expressed. By CEWaytan