Gabriel's Garden

09/08/2022

By Vina Medenilla Johnny Sniper, 39, a radio and TV personality in Cebu City, has been farming since college. Farming for Sniper is a passion that he learned through experience, consolidated ideas, and research. The 39-year-old farmer

04/08/2022

By Vina Medenilla Found in Lipa, Batangas, Esguerra Farms & Stud. Inc. is a private vacation house that evolved into a thriving farm enterprise and “birthplace of some of the country’s premier race horses.” It is owned

30/07/2022

By Angel B. Dukha III The four important principles of nature are soil, water, sun, and air, all of which are used to their advantage in one family farm in Silang, Cavite for a sustainable, simple,

29/07/2022

By Zac B. Sarian Farm owners might as well convert their farms into a farm school or learning site and get an extra income of P140,000 a month even by just training a batch of 25

26/07/2022

By VINA MEDENILLA It is the most difficult times that make us fall hard and rise stronger. Climasenrose Farm in Bauang, La Union is a thriving grapes farm that has experienced hitting the bottom before reaping

26/07/2022

By Vina Medenilla Individuals from farming families either choose to continue the legacy of their ancestors or go after their passion outside farming. But sometimes, it’s also doing both. For spouses Xavier and Malou Peña, a retired

12/07/2022

Organically grown vegetables mean many things: naturally grown, synthetic chemical-free, safe, sustainable. Unfortunately, it can also mean other things: expensive and often inaccessible to small farmers and consumers on a tight budget. The Participatory Guarantee

30/06/2022

A farm requires a lot of working parts to function productively and generate profit. Silent Integrated Farm, a farm-tourism destination in Lliw, Laguna, is successful in this aspect by utilizing a mix of business-to-business (B2B)

31/05/2022

| Young farmer’s dream chicken business made possible through KAYA

John Dominic Salamanca is a 29-year-old farmer from Maria Aurora, Aurora who dreamed of establishing a poultry agribusiness. With the assistance of the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC), he was able to turn his dream into reality.

John Dominic chose to start a business in the chicken industry after seeing the lack of supply of chicken meat and production of healthy food in their province of Aurora amid the pandemic. What sets his business idea apart from others is his choice of free-range chicken meat type production. Instead of being confined in cages, his chickens will be free to roam in pasturing areas to consume grass, insects, and worms instead of feeds making up their diet.
Needing funds to jumpstart his business, the young agripreneur discovered DA-ACPC’s Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA) program through the Kabataang Agribusiness Facebook group that he was a member of. Under the KAYA loan program, borrowers between 18 to 30 years old and graduates of formal or non-formal education can avail zero-interest loans of up to Php 500,000 for their agribusiness, payable up to five (5) years.

After applying, John Dominic attended seminars in creating business plans and monitored his application status through the ACPC Access website, an online application portal for ACPC credit programs. Through the Alay Credit Cooperative in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, ACPC’s partner lending conduit, John Dominic was able to loan P500,000 for his poultry business.

According to John Dominic, KAYA is a big help in encouraging the youth youth to go back and love agriculture. “Dahil sa ganitong oportunidad, mababago ang mindset ng kabataan pagdating sa agrikultura… mas lalo pa nilang mamahalin ang pagsasaka at pangingisda,” he said.

“Huwag tayong mapapagod. Dahil unang una, tayo ang bubuhay sa ating kapwa mamamayang Pilipino. Ang pagsasaka ay hindi dapat nakatuon para lang sa pansariling interes. Dapat ay mag-produce tayo ng mga produkto at pagkain para sa mga mamamayang Pilipino,” he added.

30/05/2022

29/05/2022

By Patricia Bianca S. Taculao The Carolina Reaper (Capsicum chinense) was named the world’s hottest pepper in 2013 because its spiciness reached a record of 2.2M Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the unit used to measure spiciness.