A graduate of a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) training is on a mission to help transform community practices, believing that it is time for the farmers to embrace changes that will improve their harvest and encourage the youth to engage in agriculture.
“It concerns me that the majority of our fellow rice farmers in the community are getting older. We, the youth, have to step forward and live up to farming for it to flourish,” Armando Estalar, 22-year-old trainee from Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, said.
So when he was chosen to replace one of the attendees for a recent two-week training of trainers, the agriculture student at the Central Philippine State University, said he absorbed the learnings on high-quality inbred rice and seeds and farm mechanization.
For Armando, the training is helpful in shaping the future of agriculture in their locality.
“Growing up, I joined my father in farming activities. I realized in this training that our practices have to keep up with the times. One of the practices that I’m eager to share is the fallow period,” he said.
As incorporated in the PalayCheck, an integrated rice crop management system, allowing the field to rest for at least 30 days after harvest has advantages. These include breaking the cycle of insect pests, destroying disease hosts and reducing inoculum in the field, and allowing good decomposition of the rice straw and organic materials that can serve as fertilizer.
Armando said that he will also practice the nine recommendations in the PalayCheck from variety and seed selection to postharvest management and will inspire neighbor-farmers to adopt the recommendations.
“I will be a good model to them,” the RCEF trainee said.
Other than promoting the modern way of farming, Armando aims to engage out-of-school youth and young farmers and establish an agricultural enterprise development center that will also address unemployment.
While Armando may not yet know what the future holds for him at 56 years old—the average age of farmers— senior farmers in their community could now thank him. For they can rest their mind knowing that there are youth like Armando who are building a more stable and fulfilling livelihood from rice farming.
