MAFAR LAUNCHES FARM BUSINESS SCHOOL IN THE BANGSAMORO REGION
SOUTH COTABATO | June 21, 2021
Agrarian Reform officers step up to extend their knowledge to help the farmers in the Bangsamoro Region take advantage of market opportunities.
On June 21- 25, 2021, The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform Launched the Farm Business School (FBS) program to produced 65 new facilitators at The Farm Carpenter Hills, Koronadal, South Cotabato.
The FBS program is a unique educational system designed to help farmers learn and improve their knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship and farm business management; it is established by the DAR, Agricultural Training Institute of Department of Agriculture (DAR-ATI) and now adopted by MAFAR-BARMM.
In a statement, Minister Mohammad S. Yacob Ph. D said that aside from providing Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) to our farmers, the ministry also prioritizes further empowering farmers by incorporating the business in their system by conducting this training.
“It aims to build a group of facilitators to capacitate in entrepreneurial and management skills so that these facilitators can teach the farmers what has been taught to them during the training.” Director for Agrarian Reform Taugan S. Kikay Ph. D said.
The said batch who graduated in the program had hands-on tutoring on basic farm recording, new farming techniques, planting to harvesting, market survey, and agri-business enterprise.
Chief of Agrarian Reform Program Officer for EDESS Pendatun Mambatawan challenged the participants to apply their new learning.
“The school trained them on various entrepreneurial skills and advance farming practices, so they can help our farmers in knowing what to do with their product as it goes out in the market,” Mabatawan stressed.
“We are fortunate as recipients of the AR’s Farm Business School because we were taught to prepare a farm business plan that serves as our guide in facilitating this program to the farmers,” said Fahmi Acob, one of the graduates.
Acob added that farmers in their community sell their harvests without knowing if they gained or lost.
“Now, I can say we are better prepared and more empowered. Thanks to MAFAR,”