REPRESENTATIVES Paolo Duterte, Eric Yap and Edvic Yap filed a measure that seeks to grant free tertiary agricultural education and other related courses to dependent children of qualified indigent farmers.

They said that House Bill 7572 or the proposed Free Tertiary Agricultural Education Act will encourage more youth to consider joining the agricultural sector and uplift and motivate agricultural research.

Under the bill, the Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education, will establish a scholarship grant for tertiary agricultural education.

Qualified children of registered indigent farmers intending to enroll or already enrolled in agricultural courses or any related field offerings in state colleges and universities shall be exempt from payment of tuition and other school fees. They will be entitled to other incentives or subsidies, including living and transportation allowance.

The lawmakers cited data from the Philippine Statistical Authority that employment in the agricultural sector dropped by 24.5 percent in October 2020, 24.6 percent in October 2021 and 22.5 percent in October 2022.

“The Philippine Development Studies contends that diminishing farm size and declining incomes in agriculture, have incentivized the shift out of agriculture,” they said.