Pangasinan town farmers learn biz skills via DAR program
CALASIAO, Pangasinan – A new batch of farmers comprising 25 agrarian reform beneficiaries from this town are learning entrepreneurship skills through the Farm Business School Project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
In an interview on Tuesday, Lopez Farm School owner Romeo Lopez said the farmer-participants are being trained to do business out of farming, and improve not only their skills both in farming and business but also their profit.
“Our main goal is to turn them into businessmen to make their farms profitable businesses,” he said. “The DAR personnel teach them the technical knowledge while we teach them the actual application of the knowledge learned.”
The classes are held twice a month on Saturdays and the participants are provided free food for the whole-day sessions.
The farmers need to complete a total of 25 training sessions and submit the requirements to graduate.
Most of the beneficiaries are members of the Aliguas Dumaralos na Buenlag, Inc., an agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organization based in Barangay Buenlag here, while others are from identified priority villages in the Señor Divino Tesoro Agrarian Reform Community in Calasiao town.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DAR-Pangasinan provincial office said the Farm Business School Project is designed to develop the capacities of farmers and follows a Food and Agriculture Organization-prescribed program that teaches entrepreneurship and business management skills to farmers.
The DAR implemented the same project in Sta. Barbara and San Fabian towns in 2016; Urdaneta City and Asingan town in 2018; Alcala town in 2019; and Bautista town in 2021.
A total of 204 farmers have graduated from the previous courses. (PNA)
