QUEZON City 5th District Representative Patrick Michael Vargas filed a measure that aims to develop and strengthen the agricultural education and training in the country.

House Bill 7381 or the proposed Agricultural Entrepreneurial Education Act will institutionalize manpower development for agricultural entrepreneurship at the post-secondary level.

Vargas said that with the great potential of the agriculture sector to address the growing concerns in food security, poverty and unemployment, especially after the Covid19 pandemic, the government must ensure that programs of capacity building and human capital development, particularly on entrepreneurship, are upheld and supported.

He added that although various laws have been enacted to increase the interest of young Filipinos in agriculture, the State can expand education and capacity-building initiatives to include agricultural entrepreneurship at the post-secondary level.

“Cognizant of the health risks brought about by the Covid19 pandemic, this bill seeks to complement current agricultural entrepreneurship training initiatives under different modalities of learning, such as in-school, on the job, and online,” Vargas stressed.

He added that interested and qualified trainees shall undergo entrepreneurship training that will be consistent with the ladderized system of agricultural education and training at the post-secondary level.