Thirty innovative farm school owners and local government unit representatives recently graduated from a 10-day training on climate-smart farms organized by the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) in collaboration with the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The Climate-Smart Farm Business School was developed to create new ways to boost farmers’ awareness and understanding on the impact of climate change and to teach them strategies to adapt and reduce vulnerability.
The Farm Business School is one of the interventions introduced by the DA to address the impact of climate change.
These initiatives were created after the conduct of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, the highest scientific body responsible for evaluating the risk of climate change.
The panel issued an explicit warming about the earth’s surface and warned that if left uncontrolled, impact of climate change to human and nature will continuously affect the lives of future generations, specifically the farmers.
It was also noted in the said report that the Philippines is highly vulnerable to climate change with farmers and women as the most affected groups.
The 10-day training that began last August 15 culminated in the graduation ceremony at the Agricultural Training Institute, Regional Training Center III in Dinalupihan, Bataan.
It was attended by Villar SIPAG Director Senator Cynthia A. Villar, Angeles City Mayor Eduardo Pamintuan, DA-RFO III Officer-in-Charge Engr. Roy Abaya, TESDA Region III Dir. Andrew Bido and Department of Tourism (DoT) Region III OIC Regional Director Caroline Uy.
In the said ceremony, four farm representatives shared their experiences on the training. These were Cherrie Pulpulaan of the Puputi Nature Farm in Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), Fr. Mariano Antonio Ranera, JR., RCJ, of the Rogate Oasis Farm in Region 1, Lanie Dulnuan of the Spring Mountain Farm in Region II and Cristina Rodriguez of the SJR Farm in Region III.
In her inspirational talk, Villar thanked the DA for its continued efforts and interventions in helping farmers understand and be more aware of the impact of climate change. The DA also teaches them strategies to help cope with the problems brought about by global warming.
“We see these efforts of the Department of Agriculture as critical interventions so that our farmers, who are among the most vulnerable groups in climate change, would be guided on what’s best to do in terms of managing their farms in the face of this global dilemma. Villar SIPAG will continue to support the DA in all its efforts to help our farmers and this Climate-Smart Farm Business School training is definitely a step in the right direction,” the veteran legislator said.
The seasoned lawmaker added that the Climate-Smart Business School Training covered all bases, sufficient to guide the farmers and LGU graduates. The information will also help them develop a business plan they could apply and implement in their own farms.