A FARM school owner encouraged the youth to also consider agriculture and agribusiness as life-long careers instead of defaulting on white-collar jobs.
During the Habi at Kape forum last Aug. 23, Cherrylin Casuga, the owner of Casuga Farm School and Davao Agri Trade Expo 2023 chairperson, said agribusiness can become a worthwhile choice for would-be entrepreneurs.
“I would say there’s a lot of opportunities for our young agri-preneurs to see this agribusiness as a lucrative [and] sustainable livelihood entrepreneurship journey they can embark on,” Casuga said.
She clarified that agribusiness is not just about farming itself but includes production, distribution, logistics, marketing, food value chain, supply chain, and everything in between.
According to Casuga, the Department of Agriculture has been pushing to recognize young people to understand food security, food nutrition, availability, accessibility, and affordability through innovation and agri-tech.
She added that they will conduct technical seminars and business-to-business matching to provide insights to participants into turning the land into an income-generating opportunity.
“I believe that’s what we need to really nurture in the minds of the young agri-preneurs of how they can improve whatever their products or services that they offer in the market,” Casuga said.
The agricultural best practices, such as smart agriculture and how to mechanize, automate, and innovate practices, will be showcased at the Davao Agri Trade Expo 2023 which will be held on September 28-30 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Lanang Premier. Local products, success stories, and solutions will be showcased in the said expo as well.
“It’s never too late to start your entrepreneurship journey in agribusiness because we’re talking about food, we’re talking about sustainable livelihood,” Casuga said, “When you say agribusiness it talks about food so we have to engage ourselves so let’s be aware and see opportunities. Let’s fill in the gaps, let’s try to provide solutions, we cannot neglect this.”
