ILOILO City – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) launched the Farm Business School (FBS) in two separate occasions in Dumangas and in San Dionisio, Iloilo on March 6 and 7, respectively with the signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) entered and executed by and among the program stakeholders: DAR, the Department of Agriculture, local government units, and agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs).
The FBS as a learning program will help the farmers acquire the proper knowledge, skills and attitudes to make their farm more profitable. Farmers will be oriented on how to operate their farms as business during the training for 2 to 3 months which covers 25 sessions on farming techniques, records keeping and financial management. The farmers’ capacity in entrepreneurial and management skills will be learned at the farm level through a “learning by doing” approach.
It will benefit 35 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) belonging to Dumangas Agrarian Reform Cooperative in Dumangas, Iloilo and 37 ARBs from CAPISAN Agrarian Reform Cooperative in San Dionisio, Iloilo.
“What will happen to our community without farmers, people will have no food to eat,” Dumangas Mayor Ronaldo B. Golez said in his inspirational message. Farmers are expert in farming, they are the heroes in our community, he added.
Provincial agrarian reform program officer (PARPO) II Lucrecia S. Taberna on the other hand, in her inspirational message in San Dionisio said that a person’s age is not measured to acquire new knowledge but by the interest, commitment and determination. She also encourage participants to foresee their graduation. She said there are more who have shown interest in FBS, “the more we can give knowledge through FBS, more people can elevate their lives in this barangay and can increase their household income monthly.”
The participants in their Pledge of Commitment will attend, participate and to abide by all the rules of the training and complete the 25 sessions of the FBS. They commit to apply the learning skills acquired in the training to improve productivity and household income so that they can contribute to the economy of the Agrarian Reform Community (ARC).
It can be recalled that in the Province of Iloilo, FBS was implemented since 2015 in Barangay San Julian in Badiangan, Barangay Tampucao in Lambunao last 2017, and last year in Barangay Tapacon, Bingawan and in Barangay Tentay, Sara with a total of 149 graduates./PN
