Davao City First District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte filed a bill seeking to encourage more youth to pursue a career in agriculture and take on the challenges facing the vital sector.
Duterte, together with Benguet Representative Eric Yap and Representative Edvic Yap of ACT-CIS Party-list, filed House Bill 7572, which seeks to provide subsidies to children of qualified indigent farmers who will enroll in agriculture courses and other related fields of study in state universities and colleges (SUCs).
This is in addition to the free tuition through Republic Act (RA) 10931, often known as the Universal Access to Excellent Tertiary Education Act.
Under RA 10931 dependents of indigent farmers are eligible for free tuition and other school fees, as well as other incentives and subsidies like living and transportation allowances, if they meet the admissions requirements for agriculture and other related courses.
The qualified indigent farmer is someone who is listed in the Department of Agriculture’s (DA’s) registry of farmers and whose sole source of income is from cultivating land that they own or rent, or who actually engages in crop production, livestock farming, or poultry farming.
In a press statement, Duterte said youth who are exposed to today’s technologies are urged to consider agriculture as a viable career.
He also said by providing necessary educational support to the children of farmers, they are encouraged to pursue agriculture and other related courses.
He emphasized that agriculture courses do not just involve farming, but also cover degrees in agricultural and biosystems engineering, agribusiness management, agricultural biotechnology, agricultural economics, and fisheries technology, among other studies.
