Originally Posted: https://www.facebook.com/daphilricenegrosofficial

125 farmers finished the 14-week training on Production of High-Quality Inbred Rice, Seed Certification, and Farm Mechanization facilitated by MBA Forest Technical School Inc., located at Ma-ao Bago City, Negros Occidental, under the RCEF Extension Program’s Farmer Field School (FFS). The course started on June 15, 2021.

“Kami ordinaryo lang nga manunguma, wala kami ya nag graduate sa Agrikultura. Tungod sa akon eksperyensya diri sa Farmer Field School damo gid nag dugang sa akon ihibalo kapin pa gid sa PalayCheck System (As an ordinary farmer, we were not a graduate of Agriculture. But through this Farmer Field School, my knowledge significantly increased especially in the PalayCheck System).”, this was the testimonial message of Mr. Vicente S. Leoro, one of the farmer-trainees.

PhilRice Negros Branch Director Gerardo Estoy Jr, Research and Development Coordinator Alvin Palanog, RCEF Coordinator Jose Arnel Cordova, and Senior Science Research Specialist Leo Sta Ines graced the 5-day graduation. Dr Estoy hopes that this training would encourage the graduates to use their learnings to increase their income and productivity to help ensure food security in the community. The 125 farmers were divided into 5 batches to adhere to health protocol.

The Rice Extension Services Program (RESP) is one of the components of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) that aims to enhance the knowledge, attitude, and skills of the rice farmers in producing more rice at a reduced cost; increase their access to modern science-based farming techniques, and extend the availability of free skills training program to them.

RCEF is a mandate under the Republic Act No.11203, otherwise known as the Rice Liberalization Act, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019.For questions about the RCEF Training, text or call 0917-4794-370 (TESDA) or 0920-9462-474 (DA-ATI).#RCEFExtensionProgram#MasaganangAniMataasnaKita