The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has urged the youth to avail of its agriculture-related training courses, especially on modern rice farming.
In a statement, TESDA Deputy Director General Aniceto D. Bertiz III revealed that the agency has produced more trainees from its agriculture-related skills training courses.
“It's is not just what you call the ordinary farmers as we are also able to engage the youth as we are giving them different scholarship programs,” he said.
TESDA has been providing scholarship programs on rice farming under the Program on Accelerating Farm School Establishment (PAFSE) and Rice Extension Services Program (RESP).
The PAFSE is being implemented as part of TESDA’s enterprise-based training or “EBT to the Max” initiative to promote the proliferation of farm schools, and the use of a “farmer to farmer, learning by doing” methodology.
The RESP, on the other hand, is being implemented under the Republic Act 11203, or the Rice Liberalization Act, signed in 2019.
Under the RESP, TESDA offers courses, such as Farm Field School on Production of High-Quality Inbred Rice and Seed Certification and Farm Mechanization, Rice Machinery Operations, Drying and Milling Plant Servicing NC III, Agro-entrepreneurship NC II, Pest and Nutrients Management, and Digital Agriculture Course in the Farm Field School (FFS) nationwide.
Bertiz said that the TESDA also has an ongoing partnership with Israel’s Agro-Studies to provide trainers and professors in the agriculture sector to pursue advanced studies on modernized farming.
He added that TESDA continues to improve and expand its services particularly in the agriculture sector to help the country achieve food self-sufficiency.
“We are developing more training courses for agriculture including the post-harvest training programs for them to market their products,” Bertiz said.