BSU incubates new breed of farmers

Inside a five hectare lot inside BSU, selected young farmers in Cordillera go through rigorous trainings and seminars in the modern day mode of agriculture. With aims to empower farmers outside the walls of the university, BSU-ATBI/IC (Agri-Based Technology Business Incubator/Innovation Center) molds these young farmers to be self-sufficient businessmen from being producers to traders using modern day technology, science, statistics and the arts of trade which they will impart to fellow farmers in their locality. This way, knowledge of modern day mode agriculture will spread to the less-privilege farmer sector.

Traders versus Farmers

Today’s farmers were fixed with the notion of their role as plain producers, thus withstanding their capacity that they too can be traders and businessmen. With that, profit driven traders and businessmen exploit the ignorance of our less-privilege farmers about the modern day agriculture. These traders and businessmen profit from their hardships without breaking a single sweat. Traders and businessmen feed on the bounty of labor while leaving the toiling farmers hungry with their knee deep on the mud.

Presently aside from these setbacks, farmers are faced again with another foe, this time, the whole of ASEAN countries through AFTA. This would mean a more stiff competition between our farmers against the rest of the ASEAN signatories. Here, farmers are required to up their game and produce cost efficient high quality crops. Still, farmers found it hard to compete with the global market if the exploits of traders and businessmen continue.

As an answer, here now enter BSU-ATBI/CI through the facilitation of its director, Ruth C. Diego to heed the call of our farmers. Fed up against traders and businessmen taking advantage of the less privileged farmers, Diego imparts her knowledge before the latter upholding the true intent of BSU-ABTI/CI. She envisions that someday farmers will get to experience being their own boss.

The training

Like fighters, young farmers will have to go stages of training. In the Pre-Incubation Period, incubatees (ABTI’s term for trainees) for three grueling months will be encountering numerous seminars and one-on-one counseling as to the procedures in running a business like, preparing feasibility study, computing cost of production, book keeping, HR management and others. Aside from intense learning, they will enjoy the benefits of ABTI’s office space with complete access to a computer and printer, coffee lounge and meeting rooms.

After the Pre-Incubation period, they will now enter the incubation proper. Here, they will now put all of their learnings into practice. Survivors of the Pre-Incubation period will now experienced BFAD-licensed and HACCP complaint incubator kitchens for their food processing. Also, those who choose organic vegetable and/or strawberry production, a parcel of land from at least 10 farm lots of 1,000 meter

square shall be imparted to the incubatee for his/her utilization, provided a 15percent share from their sales of products. They will be also be given a shelf space at the BSU-owned market showroom.

The result

After three years of trial and error, there are now 29 present surviving incubatees. They now run the strawberry picking activity in strawberry farm. A tourist’s “must do” when visiting Benguet.

BSU-ATBI/CI strictly advocating Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), products from these Incubatees are safe to consume and is patronized by many. With their knowledge in analyzing soil, fertilizer combination, crop disease assessment, crop rotation and more, their products met the international standards for as far as quality is concerned and is now ready for the world market. Not only that, their knowledge gained inside BSU-ATBI/CI also helped in aiding the already deteriorating farmlands of Benguet.

Also, profit driven traders and businessmen can no longer hussle them on their asking prize when selling their products. Profit towards the farmers is now certain because they can now ask for fair, if not, exact prizes from the traders using their own cost production computation. Yes, in BSU-ATBI/CI they were taught how to properly compute cost production.

As of the second quarter of this year, there were 17 applicants wanting to enter BSU-ATBI/CI. They too want to gain knowledge while earning like the rest of the 29 incubatees did. These 29 are now on the third stage of training or Post-Incubation period wherein they will now mentor future incubatees. After this they are now ready to be unleashed to the outside world while consciously imparting their knowledge empowering fellow farmers outside the university walls.

By educating our young farmers in BSU-ATBI/CI, we’re slowly empowering our less-privilege farmer sector in our locality. All of the current incubatees together with their mentors vow to uphold BSU-ABTI/CI’s true intent to pass on their wisdom to our less-privilege farmer sector.