Caritas Manila, the social action arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, continues to provide scholarships to agriculture students every year.
According to Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila and president of Radio Veritas, 1,000 out of 5,000 students under the Youth Servant Leadership Education Program (YSLEP) of Caritas Manila take a college course dedicated to or related to agriculture every year.
“We hope to encourage the young generation to work in the agricultural sector. The Philippines is an agricultural country. This is a gift from God that we have to nurture,” said Fr. Pascual over Radio Veritas.
Fr. Anton Pascual (Manila Bulletin file)
The priest said the government needs to intensify modernization efforts to help boost the agricultural sector.
“This is through the availability of modern equipment or studies on modern agricultural methods to speed up the planting and harvesting of quality products in the future,” he added as he lamented the state of many agriculture workers who have remained poor.
“We need to strengthen the agriculture sector to help improve the lives of our agriculture workers as well as to entice the youth to be part of this industry,” said Fr. Pascual.
Caritas Manila looks forward to a brighter future for agriculture students in the country, equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and opportunities to become successful agri-entrpreneurs and be an agent of positive change in their respective communities.
Caritas Manila has, as of last year, allocated P111.7 million to educate 5,000 YSLEP scholars.