MALOLOS CITY—The Junior Chamber International Philippines (JCIP) called on farmers in the country to join the 2013 Search and Awards for The Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines (TOFarm).
Rommel Cunanan, project manager of the 2013 TOFarm, said the deadline for nominations will be on July 31.
It is open for exceptional farmers, farmer entrepreneurs, farming institutions, agricultural innovators, agri-initiatives, local government units engaged in agriculture, cooperatives, non-governmental organization, young farmers, livestock farmers, fisherfolk, urban and city farmers, family of farmers, and women farmers.
Nominations can be made through email at info.tofarm@gmail .com, or send It personally to 10th Floor, UHI Building, at 158, P Tuazon Avenue corner 8th Avenue, Cuba, Quezon City.
Nomination forms can be downloaded from the TOFarm website at www.tofarm.org.
Re-established in 2012, TOFarm was initiated by JCIP in partnership with Universal Harvester Inc., (UHI) to invigorate the farming sector and create better appreciation of farmers who provide food for 98 million Filipinos.
“We want agriculture to interest and excite more people, particularly the youth who are increasingly being lured by while collar jobs and losing interest in tilling the land that their parents and ancestors worked on,” Cunanan said.
He added, “we want to focus on the success stories in the field and in so doing encourage investments and advance research that will result in a vibrant agriculture sector which is the backbone of our economy. The end goal is to achieve sustainable food supply for the whole country.”
For her part, Dr.Milagros Ong How, executive vice president of UHI, stressed the need to attract more young people to go into farming.
She said, “youths now are less interested to follow their elder’s footsteps and are hesitant to pursue farming as a vocation.”
As a result, the average age of farmers has gone up to 59.
Ong How said that if fewer young farmers fail to realize their contribution to nation building “we will face a food security crisis in the very near future.”
