THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority urged young Filipinos to enroll in agriculture-related training courses, especially on modern rice farming.

TESDA Deputy Director General Aniceto Bertiz III said that young people in urban areas should enroll in rice farming courses as well.

“Hindi na ito ‘yung mga tinatawag nating ordinaryong farmers but na-e-engage na rin natin ‘yung mga kabataan kasi we are giving them different scholarship programs,” he said.

The agriculture sector is one of the priority sectors of TESDA as it was identified in the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan 2018-2022.

The agency has provided scholarship programs on rice farming under the Program on Accelerating Farm School Establishment and Rice Extension Services Program.

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 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 nationwide.

The agency partnered with Israel’s Agro-Studies to allow trainers and professors in the agriculture sector pursue advanced studies on modernized farming.

“We are developing more training courses for agriculture including the post-harvest training programs for them to market their products,” Bertiz said.