A total of 37 members of the Ramos Farmers’ Cooperative Association in the municipality of Ramos have undergone skills training on entrepreneurship organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DA).
The activity is in line with DA’s Special Area for Agriculture Development (SAAD) program which is anchored in reducing poverty incidence, and activating local food production, through livelihood assistance given to marginalized Filipino farmers and fishers.
DTI OIC-Provincial Florencia Balilo stressed that the capacity building focuses on financial management and administrative works to help the beneficiaries maximize the potential and opportunities of their business.
“This is a three-part activity wherein the participant can learn the basics of doing business, effective financial practices, and improve their bookkeeping skills,” she emphasized.
Among the topics covered include How To Start Your Business which talks about the essentials of entrepreneurship and the requirements of starting a business.
Also, speakers from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas discussed the effective financial practices and details about the Philippine currency during the seminar on Financial Management: Know Your Money.
Lastly, the cooperative members were engaged in an interactive approach to learning the primary elements of business record-keeping dubbed as the Business Expense Savings Training Game.
Anna Liezl Macaraeg, one of the participants, thanked DTI and DA for equipping them with the knowledge and skills to start, develop and grow their own businesses.
“The program of DA and DTI greatly helped us by giving us a positive outlook on business. Programs like these are important for us to understand the proper way of handling a business, and through them, we gained the right knowledge in managing money and business,” Macaraeg explained.
The activity complements DTI’s thrust to provide business-related seminars to farmers to ensure the improvement, growth and sustainability of the business. (CLJD/TJBM, PIA Region 3- Tarlac)