Lambunao town eyes long-term formation, mentoring for farmers

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Wednesday, January 11, 2017
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LAMBUNAO, Iloilo – This first-class municipality in the province of Iloilo is looking forward to providing its farmers with a sustainable source of income through its “Champion Farmers Program” (CFP).
Lambunao mayor Jason Gonzales on Friday explained that farming is like Mathematics where they have to learn first the core competencies. With farming, they will be taught the basic skills that they have to learn through the CFP, which is a long-term formation and skills training/mentoring for farmers.
He explained that training programs offered by national agencies are normally a one-shot training, very specific but not comprehensive. Also, it does not help farmers find access to markets.
Under the CYP, farmers will have six months to be mentored; three months will be spent on mentoring and skills training while the remaining months will be for planting and validation.
Those who pass the validation will get the privilege to receive various agriculture services that will be downloaded by various agencies to the municipality.
He stressed that they could probably join the program but the LGU will have to determine if they practice the skills that they learned.
“The idea behind this is that every champion farmer can employ other farmers. Every champion farmer has a productive farm that can feed and provide income to other farmers,” he said.
Gonzales added that their banner program seeks to make Lambunao the “biggest vegetable producer in the province of Iloilo” in the next few years.
“Our goal is to make Lambunao the vegetable basket of our province. We can only do that by training our farmers properly,” he said.
In terms of finding a market, he disclosed that they will be partnering with restaurants and hotels in Iloilo City to avoid middle men. Later, they will also be targeting Boracay Island. The profits they earn will be shared with the farmers.
Later this year, they will also be producing their own brand dubbed “Lambu Fresh” and likewise establish a vegetable packaging plant.
The thrust is to produce organic products, which command higher prices.
“This is something we can pursue. It’s a very big opportunity,” he cited.
Gonzales said they have already covered 300 farmers with their ongoing validation. Farmers, who already have their small plantation, whether or not they own the lot, have higher chance of getting qualified.
The first batch of trainees will be composed of 35 farmers and 100 for the second batch. The succeeding trainings to be done every quarter will accommodate 100 farmers per batch. (PNA)

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