BONTOC, Mountain Province (PIA) — The Agricultural Training Institute recently certified the Sagada Heritage Village Bee Farm as a Learning Site for Apiary, making it the seventh learning site in the province.
The farm is owned by Jason Cam-ed of Balugan, Sagada, a young farmer, businessman/entrepreneur and a passionate beekeeper, who been selling bee colonies and honey in Manila, Tagaytay and in the province before the pandemic. He was able to maintain his pasture sites with about 148 colonies even during the pandemic
Agriculturist II Faith C. Pec-ao of the Office of Provincial Veterinary said a learning site serves as a place where all walks of life can learn lifelong skills and provide opportunity for tourism especially now that agri-tourism is encouraged.
“The importance of learning site, from the word learning – pag adalan, is we learn certain technologies of certain commodity. Aside from learning, it is also a program to encourage other farmers because nowadays agro-tourism is in. Example if it’s a learning site about strawberry, they can have it as a pick-and-pay for customers.”
Getting certification from ATI as a Learning Site is a tedious process but Pec-ao hopes that the province will produce more learning sites of different agricultural practices.
She is soliciting the help of different LGUs to encourage their respective constituents to look into the opportunity of being a learning site. ATI provides cash assistance to certified learning sites to improve or better their facility or technology.
Farm owners who wish to be certified as a learning site can visit the Office of the Provincial Veterinary for proper guidance.**JDP/VJLT-PIA CAR, Mt. Province
