DAR Secretary John Castriciones and TESDA Director-General Isidro Lapeña led the signing of a memorandum of agreement . The MOA seeks to provide farmer-beneficiaries and their dependents trainings on entrepreneurial courses under the scholarship program of TESDA, such as baking, dress-making, coffee-making and automotive mechanic, among various available technical and vocational courses.
Castriciones said DAR and TESDA have agreed to offer scholarship grants to 3,150 farmer-beneficiaries and dependents.The DAR chief said the partnership “is very significant in uplifting the standards of living of the farmer-beneficiaries, who are close to the heart of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.” “Providing our farmer-beneficiaries skill-enhancement training is a big step towards alleviating rural poverty and ensuring food security in the country,” Castriciones said.
Studies show that 70 percent of the poorest of the poor lives in rural areas, most of them are farmers and fishermen. TESDA said the skill development trainings they are offering would help empower a farmer, which may lead to his/her emancipation from the bondage of the soil.