LAND BANK LAUNCHES AGRI VIDEO SERIES
THE LANDBANK OF THE PHILIPPINES recently launched the second season of the AgriCOOLture video series under its Gawad e-Dukasyon program. This series is a partnership with Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) designed to educate students on agriculture and fisheries at a young age to renew enthusiasm for the agriculture sector. The program forms part of LandBank’s campaign towards agri- and aqua-preneurship, to shift the perception of agriculture and fisheries from just a traditional means of livelihood to a profitable business venture.
This new series follows the success of the first season, which reached more than 4 million eighth grade students from over 4,000 public schools, along with roughly 10,000 out-of-school youth and mature learners enrolled in Department of Education’s (DepEd) Alternative Learning System.
“The videos were first launched in 2014 and have since garnered very positive feedback from teachers and students. LandBank itself noticed that, among the students it supports through its Gawad Patnubay program who were able to view the videos, there was a greater interest [in pursuing] higher studies and even [business ventures] in agribusiness,” KCFI president and executive director Rina Lopez Bautista said during the launch.
“This time, we are targeting students in [Grades] 9-11 taking up the agri-fishery arts track in their Technology and Livelihood subject. Through Knowledge Channel’s extensive audience reach, we hope to encourage more young Filipinos to consider and pursue agriculture as a serious area of study and career option,” said LandBank first vice president Catherine Rowena B. Villanueva.
Hosted by TV personality Enchong Dee, the videos will be aired twice a week for three school years, featuring topics like crop production and harvest, poultry raising, and aquaculture and fisheries. Featured in the episodes are crop production and poultry expert Redz Costales of Costales Nature Farms and fish farm owner Erick Gaddi of Kashadover Fish Farm in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
The videos will also be used as learning materials for DepEd’s Aternative Learning System, Informal Education Program, Technology and Livelihood Education, as well as for TESDA modules for Grades 11 to 12, required under DepEd’s K-12 program. “We are grateful for the generous support of DepEd in incorporating the videos in the curriculum of public schools, allowing us to reach a more expansive audience,” Villanueva added.
Gawad e-Dukasyon complements the Bank’s Gawad Patnubay program which offers scholarships for dependents of farmers and fishers in agrarian reform communities who wish to take up or are taking up a college degree in agriculture or a TESDA-certified diploma program in farm business management.