BACOLOD CITY — A total of 62 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from southern Negros completed the four-month Farm Business School (FBS) training initiated by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The graduation rites, held at May’s Organic Garden in this city on Tuesday, was witnessed by DAR Negros Occidental-South personnel led by Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Lucrecia Taberna.
Those who graduated were 32 ARBs of Magballo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and Farmers Association in Barangay Magballo, Kabankalan City and 30 ARBs from Jon De Ysasi Agrarian Reform Cooperative in Barangay Palayog, Hinigaran town.
“Farmers were taught how to become entrepreneurs and how to manage farms as enterprises to improve their production,” Taberna said.
The conduct of the FBS program in the two areas was the fulfillment of the memorandum of agreements entered into by the DAR-Negros Occidental II with the local governments of Kabankalan and Hinigaran.
Renato Diason of the Magballo Agrarian Reform Beneficiary and Farmers Association, who received the highest honor, said the training has opened many opportunities for him and his fellow ARBs.
They are now equipped with entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and values, he added.
The FBS aims to develop farmers as entrepreneurs and make their business operations profitable.
During the 25-session training, which started last March, recipient-ARBs were trained on market survey, accounting, farm budget planning, benchmarking, and market forum and matching.
“To ensure sustainability, the DAR is just here to support all our farmer-beneficiaries especially in the delivery of various support services beneficial to the needs of their respective cooperatives and organizations,” Taberna said. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
