On June 1, 2016, a total of 135 farmer-trainees of the Villar SIPAG Foundation celebrated the culmination of their training program with a harvest festival at the foundation’s farm school in the boundary of Las Piñas and Bacoor City.

Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) partnered with Allied Botanical Corporation to teach modern farming processes and mechanization to local farmers. ABC is the only 100% Filipino-owned seed company with a research and development program.

The trainees came from Valenzuela, Makati, Navotas, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Cavite and Laguna.They started their hands-on training on February 10, 2016 with modules on sowing, plotting and harvesting. They were also trained on backyard farming the organic way.

“I am positive that our farmer-trainees will be able to benefit from the knowledge they got which could help improve their income from farming,” Sen. Cynthia Villar said.

The senator also said she is interested in putting up a farmers’ market that will not only feature the produce of the trinees but also the harvests of farmers nearby. She said this will be a good venue for farmers to market their crops to consumers.

As final phase of the 3-month training program, the trainees will be taught how to handle the crops during harvest. They will harvest ampalaya, upo, sitao, cucumber corn, peppers, tomato, eggplant, watermelon, melon, and cherry tomato. The harvests will be sold at half the prevailing market price.

The trainees will have a formal graduation on June 8, 2016.

“We will continue to work hand-in-hand with various groups and organizations to give our farmers training programs and workshops throughout the year. I expect to see more people becoming interested in farming as we spread the word that we have an urban farm school offering free and quality training programs,” Villar said.