ANN says Secretary of Agriculture William Dar is challenging as well as enticing “the youth and budding agriculture entrepreneurs (agripreneurs) to actively take part in agriculture and fisheries by availing of several financial and technical assistance (programs) offered by the Duterte administration through the Department of Agriculture (DA)” (Author Not Named, 02 September 2020, “DA Offers Youth, Agripreneurs Affordable Start-Up Loans[1],” DA.gov.ph). (Sorry, I saw this Facebook sharing 1 year later.)
There are 3 such assistance programs.
One of the loan programs is the “Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs” (KAYA). Knowing that the average Filipino farmer is now aging, average age 53, Mr Dar said during the recent virtual launch of the Agriculture Students Association of the Philippines (ASAP), “The KAYA targets the youth because we acknowledge that they can be key players in ensuring affordability and availability of food supply.” The target ASAP youth are 18-30 years old, and graduates of formal or non-formal schooling.
KAYA is administered by the DA via its attached Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC), which says:
KAYA aims to finance the capital requirements of start-up or existing farm or fishery businesses, offering uncollateralized loans up to P500,000 at zero interest and payable up to five years.
Aside from KAYA, the DA is promoting “Mentoring and Attracting the Youth in Agribusiness (MAYA),” a six-month internship program “aimed at developing a competent, skilled, and employment-ready young workforce.”
A third program is the “Business Incubation in Agriculture (BIAG).” (Aside: Biag is Ilocano for Life.) This is a platform by which the ACPC “assists business incubators, micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) (in) their start-up operations.” (Mr Dar knows business incubation as Director General of ICRISAT for 15 years, from 2000 to 2014.)
In that ASAP launch, Mr Dar mentioned the many DA training, scholarship, and e-extension programs that the youth and agripreneurs can avail of. He said:
We need to harness the potential and strength of the youth in our journey to making Philippine agriculture modern, industrialized and competitive. (Agriculture) has now become a competition among nations. We need to increase our efforts in taking care of agriculture and we need the younger generation to take the lead.
Also during the virtual ASAP launch, Senator Francis Pangilinan supported Mr Dar’s call on the youth to engage in agriculture. Mr Pangilinan said, “The country will not attain food security if a new generation of Filipinos does not want to go into farming.”
The ASAP Youth is composed of agriculture students from 11 universities and colleges all over the country. “It is committed to promoting agriculture among the youth, highlighting the importance of farmers in national food security, and developing and enhancing the skills of its members as future leaders of the country’s agriculture industry.”
ASAP Youth, may your tribe increase!@517
[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-offers-youth-agripreneurs-affordable-start-up-loans/?fbclid=IwAR3QGONBBnaDRNRb8O7a2i59oKby4KagOlE4p8tEqAkm8aA3ioRaZZCuC0g
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