MANILA – Senator Imee R. Marcos officially launched Young Farmers’ Challenge (YFC) Year 3 Thursday, September 28 at the Coconut Palace in Pasay City.
The Young Farmer’s Challenge is an advocacy project of the senator in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help the youth actively involved in agriculture.
The program gives financial grants up to ₱300,000 to its winners.
Due to the success of the previous Young Farmers’ Challenge batches, YFC Year 3 already has as much as 4,500 pre-registered participants all over the country.
From this number, 546 contestants will get the chance to win ₱80,000 in the provincial category; 112 will win ₱150,000 in the regional category; and 12 participants will win the grand prize of ₱300,000 in the national category.
For YFC’s third year, Sen. Imee R. Marcos and DA will launch 2 new components exclusively for previous YFC winners and for students from state universities and colleges.
YFC Upscale is a competition among the previous Young Farmers’ Challenge winners which will assess their business plan to scale up their existing agri-business.
Forty-eight (48) winners will be awarded ₱300,000 for this new category.
Another new addition for YFC Year 3 is YFC Inter-collegiate Competition which will involve students from different state universities and colleges.
Sixteen (16) winners will have the opportunity to win ₱150,000 as grand prize.
Amidst the pressing issues on price hikes and importations, Senator Marcos has said that, “Our Young Farmers Challenge is good news in agriculture.”
According to the senator, “Marami pa tayong dapat gawin pero ayaw kong mawalan ng pag-asa dahil masyadong importante ito para mawalan ng sigla, mawalan ng pagsusumikap.”
(We still have a lot to do, but I don’t want to lose hope because this is too important to lose enthusiasm and determination.)
The senator will continue to be a staunch supporter of anything related to agriculture, most especially to the youth actively involved in paving change for the future of agriculture in our country.
The senator’s support for the agriculture sector is also because her father, President Ferdinand E. Marcos, believed that coconut, like rice, corn and other food ingredients are more than just food to fill the stomach, but is powerful enough to bring more than just sustenance.
Apo Lakay would often say, “Kung pagkatao ang dinudulot ng bigas at ng pagkain; kung pagmamahal ay manggagaling din sa paghahati-hati ng meron; ang kalayaan ay makakamtan hindi sa gutom at hirap kung hindi sa malaya, maka-Diyos, mapagmahal na Pilipino. Kaya ang kalayaan din natin ay nakasalalay sa ating pagbubukid at pagtatanim.”
(If rice and food bring forth our humanity, and love arises from the sharing of what we have, then freedom will be achieved not through hunger and hardship, but through a free, God-loving, and compassionate Filipino. Thus, our freedom also depends on our farming and cultivation.)
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