To closely engage young people in agriculture, PhilRice Batac and the Candon Youth Movement (CYM) conducted a series of training sessions involving 20 youth volunteers tagged as “Farmbassadors”.
The youth volunteers were 15-25 years old who were mostly students, employed workers, and out-of-school youth from Candon City.
From October 2016 until February this year, every Saturday, lectures and hands-on exercises on rice and vegetable farming were conducted. Hands-on sessions were held at Rafael Abaya’s Palayamanan farm in Caterman in Candon.
PhilRice provided knowledge products on land preparation, use of high-quality seeds, and other information on overall crop care. The training sessions were assisted by PhilRice experts and some local farmers in Candon.
The Candon Youth Movement, a non-profit organization, focused on the interactive engagement of youth in agriculture, health, and education. The group was inspired by City Councilor Joanne Valdez to provide a good avenue for the young people to serve their community.
Farm machines such as the brush cutter-harvester, panicle thresher- corn sheller were introduced to the participants.
CYM used their income from farming for their extension activities such as feeding programs, medical missions, and lectures on timely issues in the remote areas in Ilocos Sur.
As of this writing, CYM has managed to mobilize volunteers from other towns in Ilocos Sur and Aurora.
