Twenty-five future agri-entrepreneurs and farm business owners graduated from the 10-day facilitators training at the Farm Business Schools of Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG), in partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture Region 1V-A.
Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Agriculture & Food Committee, assured her continuing support to the agricultural sector, farmer beneficiaries and stakeholders due to her dream for them to become successful agri-entrepreneurs and farm business owners.
“Ang inyong tagumpay at sama-sama nating efforts ang magpapalago sa agrikultura sa ating bansa. Sa mga kamay din ninyo nakasalalay ang isang food-secure future para sa ating lahat,” Villar told the graduates.
The graduates who came from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon and Metro Manila, were awarded their certificates of training completion at the Villar SIPAG Farm School in Bacoor, Cavite last Friday.
The veteran legislator, also managing director of Villar SIPAG, remains confident that with the new batch of FBS graduates, the momentum of growth and popularity of farm tourism in the country will be sustained.
The Farm Business School (FBS), coming from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) module, is one of the most comprehensive training programs being offered by the Villar SIPAG. The training covered farm management strategies to generate increased revenue, management strategies, business planning techniques and action plans and farm tourism enterprise.
Climate change was also a critical issue discussed in the 10-day training program as this concern primarily affects the agriculture sector. It also discussed ways on how FBS could help smallholder farmers amid the ASEAN integration.
As the author of “Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016” or Republic Act (RA) 10816, Sen. Villar expressed her joy that the training also tackled the development of farm tourism enterprise.
“Patuloy ang pagdami ng mga farm tourism sites sa ating bansa dahil popular talaga ang farm tourism nowadays. So, I hope you will use what you have learned from this training in managing or establishing a very good and sustainable site,” added the seasoned lawmaker.