Young Farmers Program gets P30-M initial funding

Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, announced that President Arroyo has approved the release of P30 million for the implementation of the Young Farmers Program (YFP). The amount is part of the budget of the Department of Agriculture under the General Appropriations Act of 2003.

YFP is a novel agricultural funding program introduced by Magsaysay to encourage young graduates of agriculture, fisheries and other related courses, as well as budding entrepreneurs, to engage in agribusiness.

Magsaysay explained under the program, the government will help participating entrepreneurs secure loan representing 60 percent of the total capital needed for their proposed agriculture-related business. The 25 percent of their needed capital would be provided as grant by the program, while the remaining 15 percent has to be raised by the proponent as equity.

The senators also lauded the efforts of Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and Sec. Emilia Boncodin of the Department of Budget and Management who helped facilitate the release of the funds.

"With the approval of fund release for the YFP, we can expect that more small and medium agribusiness enteprises will be established and more jobs would be generated especially in the countryside. This would also enhance the competitiveness of the agriculture and fishery sectors in the local and foreign markets," Magsaysay said.

"We want to prevent the departure of young farm forces for urban centers by generating more employment opportunities in the countryside," he added.

The YFP has two components, namely: The Young Farmers Entrepreneurs (YFE) and the Young Farmers Volunteer (YFV). The YFE provides assistance, specifically financing, to young graduates and budding entrepreneurs who are interested in putting up agribusiness enterprises. The YFV, on the other hand, are young agricultural and fishery graduates who will serve as extension workers and promote potential investment areas in the agriculture and fishery sectors.

The YFP has already trained 25 participants composing the first batch of trainees who completed the orientation course on entrepreneurship provided by the program. Among the trainees, 13 are project proponents whose projects such as bee culture, goat raising, cattle fattening and others were already approved by the YFP screening committee, while the other 12 were volunteers who are now rendering extension work in various regions of the country.

Magsaysay stressed the need to support the program in order to address the problem of unemployment and to help fresh graduates in putting up their own agribusiness. The senator is also batting to increase the fund of P100 million this year.