DAR offers 3-hectare farm lots for agriculture graduates

Fresh graduates of agricultural courses may be awarded with three hectares of farm lots each to enable them to practice their profession in their farms, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John Castriciones said.

Castriciones said the three-hectare offer for fresh graduates of agricultural courses is meant to encourage the youth to embrace farming to reinforce the ageing sector, in which the average age of some 11 million Filipino farmers is 57.

He expressed confidence that fresh graduates of agricultural courses will harness the farm lots that will be given to each of them since these would serve as their “farm laboratories” on which they could apply the theories and best practices that they learned from their schooling.

“This incentive will also serve as an impetus for the attainment of the country’s food security,” he said.

The DAR cited studies showing that many young Filipinos prefer to take up non-agricultural courses because of a wrong notion that “farming is no fun.”

The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Training Institute said the country may face a shortage of farmers in 15 years if the trend continues.

“This is our response to this critical issue. We need to encourage the youth to engage in farming to keep the country’s food security on course,” Castriciones said.

He added that revitalizing the agriculture industry with younger generation of farmers, with greater understanding about modern farming technology, is the key to enhancing farm productivity and compensating for losses due to weather disturbances.

Castriciones brought up the enticing offer for fresh graduates of agricultural courses while the DAR delivered to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries their individual Certificates of Land Ownership award right at their doorsteps in Barangay Bantay, Boac, Marinduque last Nov. 28.

The so-called “DAR-to-Door” strategy of distributing the CLOAs is in line with President Duterte’s directive of fasttracking and finishing the land acquisition and distribution of farmlands on or before his term ends in June 2022, he said.

Source: https://mb.com.ph/2020/11/29/dar-offers-3-hectare-farm-lots-for-agriculture-graduates/