Forty-eight (48) farmer-partners of the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program underwent online training on financial management and agricultural entrepreneurship on December 3-4, 2020.

The two-day training among representatives from 17 SAAD-funded farmer-associations in Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur elaborated on the entrepreneurial mindset to help farmers to be decisive, responsive to challenges, and future-oriented.

Financial literacy was also discussed the following day, which includes properly allocating funds, assessing financial limitations, and taking proactive actions.

Training resource speaker Rey U. Frias of the DA-Caraga Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) emphasized that agriculture is in itself a business. With the farmers’ lead role in the country’s agriculture sector, financial management and entrepreneurship are fundamental skills for them to thrive in their endeavors.

Financial education remains a challenge for developing countries, such as the Philippines (Klapper et al., 2015). As found, people who do not understand basic financial concepts are most prone to making poor decisions related to financial management.

With the SAAD Program’s end-goal of helping the said farmers to become established agri-preneurs by 2022, capability-building training centered not only on production know-how but also on financial management has been rolled out.

DA-Caraga Regional Executive Director Abel James I. Monteagudo, during his welcome message, also stressed that farmers need to be innovative, opportunity-driven, and creative to thrive in their entrepreneurial endeavors. By “empowering the local farmers, we shall see a progressive Caraga Region,” he added.  

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), entrepreneurship is an elaborate skill; there is no single training that can turn farmers into entrepreneurs overnight. However, recognizing the role farmers play in the success of their projects, the SAAD Program continuously rolls out training that will equip farmers to be action-oriented.

Relative to this, two separate training on effective organizational communication and leadership are set to take place during the first quarter of 2021. ### (Mark Angelo Pineda/ DA-SAAD Caraga)