In its continuing effort to help the youth venture into agribusiness, the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) is set to launch the 2023 Young Farmers Challenge this September 28 and 29 in the region.
The Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) is a program that offers competitive financial grant assistance to Filipino youth eager to engage in new agri-fishery enterprises by turning business ideas into profitable agribusiness ventures, a start-up capital of P149.25 million and training program that would improve their knowledge as agripreneurs and professional farmer business owners will be provided.
This year’s YFC program consists of two components namely the YFC Upscale and the YFC Intercollegiate Competition.
The YFC Upscale is a head-to-head business pitch competition with a financial grant of P300,000 for each regional winner and P500,000 for each national winner. The YFC Intercollegiate Competition is open to all sophomore students who have business ideas with potential viability.
Each winning State Universities and Colleges (SUC) enterprise per region will be awarded a financial grant of P150,000 as start-up capital. The said programs will also be open to all previous YFC awardees aspiring to scale up their current agribusiness operations by investing in new technologies including product development, improving marketing platforms, and generating employment, among others.
In 2021, the Cordillera Administrative Region produced one national champion while three national champions were produced in 2022. Eight individuals and a group composed of three individuals in the region have initially signified their intention to join the 2023 YFC program.
To qualify for the program, applicants must meet the following criteria: a) age between 18 and 30 years old at the time of application; b) be a natural-born Filipino; c) possess the necessary resources, network, or capability to engage in agriculture and fishery business within the region they are competing in; and d) if applying as a group, all members must meet the aforementioned eligibility criteria, and there should be no familial relation up to the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity among the judges.
The YFC program is targeting a total of 546 young farmers this 2023 to take part in ensuring the country’s food security. The program is the brainchild of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) of the DA in collaboration with the office of Sen. Imee Marcos and the Government Service Insurance System. **JTLlanes
