Farmers gather at one of the SMART demo farms
of Monsanto Philippines. The company’s SMART Farm program offers a 2-3 day
training in a demo farm, providing farmer participants both lectures and
hands-on workshops on how to sustainably plant corn.
Monsanto Philippines
launched this month a nationwide farmer training program, dubbed SMART Farm,
meant to teach smallholder corn growers across the country best farm management
practices and the latest corn planting technologies. In its first year, the
program targets to reach out to over 20,000 farmers in different corn regions
in the Philippines.
SMART Farm’s Center Of Excellence Lead John
Fajardo said that smallholder farmers, who make up around 80 per cent of all
farmers in the country, are often challenged with rural isolation and limited
agronomic know-how, which limit their potential for increased productivity and
profitability.
Monsanto Philippines established 16 SMART Farms
across the country where 2-3 days of both lectures and hands-on workshops will
be conducted each planting season. These demo farms also serve as a shop where
farmers can buy high-yielding and disease-resistant corn seed products at
competitive prices.
The training will be first conducted in Bugallon,
Pangasinan. It will be followed by a series of trainings in other corn growing
regions such as Tarlac, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Occidental
Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Capiz and Iloilo.
Monsanto’s Corporate Engagement Lead Charina
Garrido-Ocampo believes that supporting farmers also translates to the growth
of the local agriculture sector. “For almost 50 years, Monsanto has been
supporting local agriculture by bringing a broad range of solutions to our
farmers. Through this program, we aim to further sustain the productivity of
the sector and improve the profitability of the livelihoods of our smallholder
farmers,” said Ocampo.
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