THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority urged farmers, cooperatives and entrepreneurs to establish more farm schools in their respective localities to spur rural development.

TESDA Deputy Director General Aniceto Bertiz III said that increased agriculture-based training can improve the productivity and competitiveness of farmers.

“Ang pagbibigay ng access sa technical vocational education and training o TVET sa pamamagitan ng agri-fishery farm schools ay isang istratehiya para makamit ang pangmatagalang hangarin ng pag-unlad para sa mga kanayunan,” he said.

Filipino farmers make around P2,300 monthly for every half-hectare of land tilled, and most farmers do not earn enough to support their families.

“This training has been designed so that our farmers will have the right knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help increase their agricultural production through new technologies and entrepreneurial activities,” he said.

As part of its enterprise-based training or “EBT to the Max” initiative, TESDA implemented the Program on Accelerating Farm School Establishment to promote the proliferation of farm schools, and the use of a “farmer to farmer, learning by doing” methodology.

Farms can register 62 training programs with TESDA such as Agricultural Crop Production, Aquaculture, Horticulture, Organic Agriculture Production, Rice Machinery Operations, and Animal Production among others.

The costs of training and assessment will be covered by TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program. Target beneficiaries of the program include farmers and fisherfolk and their relatives, as well as members of the community where the farm school is situated.

To date, there are 399 farmer field school programs registered with TESDA.