BINAN City Rep. Marlyn Alonte filed a measure that aims to develop and strengthen agricultural education and training in the country.

House Bill 7912 or the proposed Entrepreneurial Agricultural Education Act seeks to institutionalize manpower development for agricultural entrepreneurship in the post-secondary level.

Alonte stressed that in a developing country like the Philippines, the agriculture sector does not only provide food security but also serves as one of the primary sources of livelihood.

“Hence, the industry needs all the support it can get,” the lawmaker said in her explanatory note.

The measure will boost agricultural entrepreneurship training initiatives that shall be delivered through various means, such as in-school, on the job, and online.

House Bill 7912 mandates the establishment of the Agricultural Manpower Education and Entrepreneurship System that will assume a leadership role in the post-secondary, vocational or tertiary level of agricultural and entrepreneurship education, following the completion of the rural farm school’s curriculum in the secondary level.

“Although agriculture-related courses produce sizable number of graduates each year, there seems to be a continuous decline of employment in this sector in the past decade,” Alonte said.