CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga (PIA) – – Eleven individuals and two groups are the provincial awardees of Kalinga in the Young Farmers Challenge 2022.
The eleven young farmers are Cris Reshon Guiral with his Solar Powered Urban Circulating Aquaculture entry; Patrocinio Telan – Devine’s Vermi-Bell and Hydrophonics Enterprise; Aimee Gaddao – AIMs Mulberry and Cocoon Production; Mayume Gerlaban – Mayumi-Jay Vegetables Seedling Enterprise; Edison Adora – Ambot’s Eco Farm; Domingo Bayog Jr. – Bamboo’s Huevo Farm; Jared A. Onnoman – Inandila D Ykalinga; Julie-ann A. Alunday – Hog Raising; Joseph L. Luminio Jr. – Kalinga Native Chicken Agriventure; Manuel B. Fontanilla – Fonta’s Profitable Quial Egg Production and Processing; and Peter Dave A. Bielza on his Conventional Broiler Production Livestock and Chicken Dressing business model entry.
The two groups are Sheea Vee Guyao, Hanagail Baliwag, Roxan Sulca, Junilaine Gin B. Apatas and Hazel Daligdig with their Modern Integrated Organic Farming enterprise, and Danny Joe Perona and Crisdale Dollente with their DanDale’s Rabittry enterprise.
They were recognized along with awardees from the other provinces in the Young Farmer’s Challenge 2022 Provincial Winners Awarding Ceremony held on August 31, 2022 at BPI Compound in Guisad, Baguio City.
As provincial winners, the 11 individuals received from the Department of Agriculture P50, 000.00 cash each and for the two group awardees P100, 000.00 cash each and a Certificate of Award. The financial grant will be used as start-up capital for the business ventures they proposed, which will assessed later on for the selection of the regional winners.
A total of 86 young farmers in the region presented their business model canvasses of which 45 individuals and 11 groups made the final cut. Kalinga has the most awardees with 13, followed by Benguet and Mountain Province with 10 each, nine from Ifugao, seven from Baguio City, six from Apayao, and one from Abra.
According to the DA, the YFC aims to encourage and support young agri-preneurs to stay or return to agriculture and to engage them in food production, processing of agricultural products, and other farm-based enterprises. It also aims to provide the youth opportunity to own, lease, develop and cultivate land for agricultural purposes.
“One of the objectives of this program is for us to promote agriculture being our way of life. There’s a saying that ‘When you eat, you are already involved in agriculture.’ We want to create awareness that agriculture affects all sectors of society. Not all of you are students or graduates of agriculture, but you have shown your interest in agriculture through the proposals that we have submitted at the regional and national level. One of the six national winners last year came from CAR, and we are very hopeful that we will gain the spotlight at the national level,” said Regional Technical Director for Operations Danilo Daguio. **JDP/PAB-PIA CAR
