The Young Agripreneurs Building Opportunities, Nurturing Growth (YABONG) Bootcamp, a collaborative effort by East-West Seed Philippines (EWPH) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), successfully concluded on May 9, 2024.
The program culminated in a pitching session, graduation ceremony, and innovation fair held at SEARCA in Los Baños, Laguna.
Twenty young and enthusiastic farmers from Luzon, nearly half of them women, participated in the bootcamp.
Participants delved into practical farming techniques like seed management, understanding soil nutrients, and managing pests and diseases. They also gained valuable experience in cross-pollination, mulching, transplanting, trellising, pruning, and vine management.
Beyond technical skills, the bootcamp focused on empowering young farmers as business owners while emphasizing the importance of developing comprehensive business plans, including strategies for marketing, fundraising, and managing cash flow.
Over the course of the three-month program, they spent 21 sessions crafting innovative business improvement plans for their farms.
