Free agri-education for farmers’ kids

Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza urged yesterday state colleges and universities and local government officials to offer free agriculture courses to children of farmer-beneficiaries. This developed after the department observed that farmers in the field are already aging and tendencies for their children to follow their footsteps are slowly deteriorating because most farmer-parents prefer to send their children to college for professional education such as medicine courses.

According to Braganza the average age of farmers today is 50 years old, indicating "it is older people who till and will continue to till the soil."

"There is a need to get the youth involved into agricultural activities since most of the farmers nowadays are senior citizens," he said.

"Offering free agricultural courses to children of farmer-beneficiaries is the best way to transfer farming knowledge to the next generation," he added.

According to Braganza, the province of Sultan Kudarat has already attended to his call when the Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College (SKPSC) through its president Nelson Binag and the provincial government headed by Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu offered their resources to farmers’ children.

The project was dubbed as "Educational Program for Agrarian Reform Communities."

Under the Memorandum of Agreement signed recently by the SKPSC, Mangudadatu, and Sultan Kudarat Agrarian Reform officer Ismael Laguindab, the SKPSC will offer children from the so-called Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) the technology and enterprise management-oriented program called Diploma in Agriculture Technology (DAT) and Bachelor in Agriculture Technology (BAT).

Braganza said the DAR will recommend qualified ARC children to undergo educational assistance program. It will also shoulder the cost for books and reproduction of academic materials for the scholars.

The government, for its part, will approve the application forms of qualified students and release funds to SKPSC on a semestrial basis. The funds will cover school fees, miscellaneous expenses and stipends of ARC scholars.

The program is open only to children of farmer-beneficiaries, who have emancipation patents (EPs) or certificate of land ownership awards (CLOAs).

Applicants must have a general weighted academic average of 2.5 or its equivalent of 80 to 85 percent in high school and their families’ annual household income should not exceed P60,000, as indicated in their latest income tax return.