By Kristine Casampol

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the province of Sorsogon recently launched its 10th Farm Business School (FBS) site to assist farmer-beneficiaries in becoming farmer entrepreneurs and enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

Nida Santiago, the Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer, is happy with the project that will assist farmers in their production and marketing activities.

"Farmers are formed into small groups to build collectively their capacity to produce for the market and respond to market demands with the aim of generating profits," she said.

According to Santiago, the FBS aims to educate agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to become agricultural entrepreneurs.

"We want to make their farms profitable and make them understand the ins and outs of business so that they can respond to market challenges," Santiago added.

Sorsogon is the 10th FBS site the pilot sites in Castilla and Bulan opened in 2017. It was followed by a place in Juban in 2018, three (3) sites in 2019, a solitary site in Casiguran in 2020, and two (2) sites in Sta. Magdalena and the city of Sorsogon.

The program has thirty-five (35) participants in Sorsogon, to which at least twenty-five (25) FBS sessions will be for them to learn entrepreneurial skills.

The farmer-students will go through a curriculum that includes assessing their current farm situation, developing a farm business plan, and putting that plan into action to make their farms profitable by managing their own farm business.