Press Release
June 1, 2016

Villar SIPAG farmers harvest crops from training

Some 135 farmer-trainees of Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) celebrated the culmination of their training program with a harvest festival at the foundation's farm school in the boundary of Las Pinas and Bacoor City.

Villar SIPAG partnered with Allied Botanical Corporation (ABC) to teach modern farming processes and machineries to local farmers. ABC is the only 100% Filipino-owned seed company with a research and development program.

The trainees came from Valenzuela, Makati, Navotas, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Cavite, and Laguna. They started their hands-on training on February 10, 2016 with modules on sowing, plotting, and harvesting. They were also trained on backyard farming the organic way.

"I am positive that our farmer-trainees will be able to benefit from the learnings and help improve their income from farming," Sen. Cynthia Villar, Villar SIPAG director, said.

Villar said she is also interested in putting up a farmer's market that will not only feature the produce of the trainees but also the produce of farmers nearby. She said this will be a good venue for farmers to market their crops to consumers.

As the final phase of the 3-month training program, the trainees will be taught how to handle the crops during harvest. They will harvest ampalaya, upo, sitaw, cucumber, mais, sili, kamatis, talong, watermelon, melon, cherry tomato. The produce will also be available for sale at half of the market price.

The trainees will have a formal graduation on June 08, 2016.

"We will continue to work hand-in-hand with various groups and organizations to give our farmers training programs and workshops throughout the year. I expect to see more people becoming interested in farming as we spread the word that we have an urban farm school offering free and quality training programs," Villar said.

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