Young Female Champions In Agriculture (YFCA) – My Single Challenge To The PH Department Of Agriculture And Leni Robredo’s Angat Buhay – Winners All!

As an agriculturist and a communicator for village development, I love the “Young Farmers Challenge” (YFC) of the PH Department of Agriculture (DA), YFC being born in 2021. The deeper I look at the YFC, I see that the challenge is actually double-edged: “Learn to love farming” and “Learn to make it more rewarding.”

Bella Cariasosays, “Young Farmers Program Kicks Off” (01 Sept 2022, Manila Times, manilatimes.net). Last year, 2021, Rosette Adel says the DA “launched a program that seeks to provide financial grant assistance to youth interested in the agri-fishery sector” (11 June 2021,  “DA Seeks Competitive Youth For ‘Young Farmers Challenge’ Agribusiness Grant,” PhilStar Global, Philstar.com) – but Ms Rosette herself does not provide the exact date of launching of the YFC; we leave it at that.

More importantly, I note that Ms Bella says the YFC is attracting the youth to farming in any of the following areas: production, processing, packaging, fabrication of farm machinery, and digital technology. The YFC grants P50,000 to individual winners and P100,000 to group winners at the provincial level; P150,000  to each of 3 regional winners; and P300,000 to each of 6 national winners. In total, adding from provincial to national, each national winner actually accumulates P500,000 (half a million).

Ms Bella says at least 1,700 provincial YFC winners will now enter the regional round. At least P150 million has been allocated by the DA to the YFC Fund. She explains that the national winners will be selected “in terms of the applicant's entrepreneurial attributes, innovativeness of the business proposal, potential for generating revenue stream, value addition and social responsibility.”

For this year, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) officially launched the Young Farmers Challenge Program on 31 March 2022. The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) provides training services as necessary, while the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) provides the funds. AMAS, ATI and ACPC are constituents of the DA.

With the YFC, young Filipinos of 18-30 years of age are being challenged to provide newblood to PH Agriculture – which is all Conventional or Chemical Agriculture (CA). What about new ideas, like Organic Agriculture (OA)?

The American Rodale Institute says (“Organic Vs Conventional Farming,” rodaleinstitute.org):

Conventional and organic farming methods have different consequences on the environment and people. Conventional agriculture causes increased greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, water pollution, and threatens human health. Organic farming has a smaller carbon footprint, conserves and builds soil health, replenishes natural ecosystems for cleaner water and air, all without toxic pesticide residues.

The DA is encouraging new ideas about old PH agriculture – why not Organic Agriculture (OA)? Since OA is healthier and much cheaper, it is pro-farmers and anti-poverty!
(image sources: “YFC” from bar.gov.ph, “Women Winners” from olympics.com, “Angat Buhay” from carousell.ph)

For the sake of Mother Filipinas, I’m encouraging Ma'am Leni and Angat Buhay to come up with funds for the new “Young Female Champions of Agriculture” (YFCA). Then, YFCA will cultivate organic agriculture for healthier and wealthier families!@517

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