TABUK CITY, Kalinga – At least 48 corn farmers from barangays Balawag and Cabaruan completed the season-long Phase III Farmer-Scientist Training Program (FSTP) initiated by the Office for the City Agricultural Services (OfCAS).
In the graduation ceremony held today at the TAMPCO Inn, Senior Agriculturist Emma Conception Fermin said that the main objective of the FSTP is to give small farmers direct training contact with agricultural experts to develop their technical and scientific capabilities to grow corn and other crops utilizing appropriate farming technologies.
Phase I (Value formation, research exposure and technical empowerment) allowed farmers to set up experimental plots of corn to compare the effects of organic fertilizers vs. inorganic fertilizers; varietal trials; intercropping system and others.
In the Phase II (On-farm experimentation and technology adoption), farmers set up experiments with the assistance of experts and agriculture technicians to determine which production technologies are adoptable in their farms.
Phase III (Farmer-to-farmer technology transfer and adoption) that enabled the farmers to generate and develop farming technologies based on their Phase I and Phase II experiences. They used either the Adopt-a-Farmer model or Adopt-a-Barangay model with local government support.
The graduation ceremony was also attended by Byron Amadeus Cayabyab, FSTP Program Leader from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños; Charlie Sagudan, Center Director for Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Cordillera office; Executive Assistant Henry Gupaal, Napoleon Ayang-ang, representative of City Mayor Darwin Estrañero; and City Agriculturist Lim Ducyogen.
The FSTP, conducted in three cropping seasons is a regular program of the city government through the OfCAS to equip farmers with scientific farming technologies for better productivity and income.