ORMOC CITY—About 240 farmers and beneficiaries of the government’s 4Ps program attended the 146th Rural Farmers’ Training Project launched by SM Foundation in Barangay San Pablo here.
The 12-week training program started on August 4 and will continue until the scheduled Harvest Festival and graduation Ceremony on Oct. 24 and 25.
The demo farm is a 5,000 sq. m lot owned by the family of Ormoc Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo Locsin, located across the City Agriculturist Office and lent to the KSK Training Program administration.
An orientation held a week earlier gave the participants an overview of the program.
Present during the orientation were Aliver Idano, Community Driven Enterprise Development DSWD Field Office Region 8; Francisco Dayap, OIC Regional Department of Agriculture; Jason Fabillar, Agri II, APCO FO8; Maria Elena Mendoza, Acting City Agriculturist; Arsenio “Toto” Barcelona, president, HarBest Agribusiness Corp.;
Jovel Grand Marquez and Easter Ann Alorro, Field Instructors; Vice Mayor Locsin; City Councilor Jun Tomas, Committee Chair on Agriculture and Fisheries; Rod Robles, SM Savemore Tacloban Store Manager; and Marlon Tan, SM Savemore Tacloban Mall Manager.
The participants are cultivating chili, lettuce, green leafy vegetables, and pinakbet vegetables, honeydew and watermelon. These produce will be featured in the Harvest Festival.
The Rural Farmers’ Training Program is being undertaken in collaboration with project partners Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Agriculture, Harbest Agribusiness Corp., the Ormoc local government, and SM Malls located in Tacloban.
The farmers’ training program aims to provide trainings on new organic farming technologies for production of organic high-value crops; conduct capability-building activities for the participants to learn entrepreneurial skills; provide linkages to possible market such as the SM Markets; and facilitate replication of learnings to their fellow farmers and other interested individuals.
Since 2007, the KSK Program has graduated more than 15,300 small farmers, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and agriculturists from the LGUs. The program has covered 124 sites all over the country where SM malls and SM Markets are located.\