LUCENA CITY—More than 500 farmers in the province will benefit from the Farmers Training Program (Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan) offered by SM Foundation.
The training provided to two batches of farmers was launched on Tuesday at Acacia, Santa Lucia Village in Dolores, Quezon and on Thursday at Hinguiwin Village, Padre Burgos town.
Batch 84 is composed of 250 farmers from Dolores, while Batch 85 is composed of 270 farmers and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) from the towns of Catanauan, General Luna, Alabat and Padre Burgos.
Cristy Angeles, SM Foundation assistant vice president for livelihood, said this is the first time the foundation launched two batches of training in one province. She asked the beneficiaries (trainees) to take the program seriously since the foundation set aside P600,000 for every batch.
Each batch will undergo a 12-week training, done every Saturday, on new farming methods, including soil preparation, seed selection and planting, composting for fertilizer, pest management and control, proper harvesting method and marketing.
Joining SM foundation on this project are the DSWD, Harbest Agribusiness Corp., SM Supermarket and local governments units.