The University of the Philippines Rural High School (UPRHS), College of Arts and Sciences,
UP Los Banos invited the National Crop Protection Center on its Youth Program in
Agriculture’s online engagement to serve as a mentor of the high school students from public
high schools in Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Mindoro.
Last February 13, Ms. Romalene A. Limpiada, University Extension Specialist at NCPC,
served as the mentor of the students in pest management by discussing Integrated Pest
Management via Facebook.
This online engagement aims to promote agriculture to the youth, introduce basic Agriculture
and related topics, provide practical activities to entice participation among students and
provide career opportunities in Agriculture.
Dr. Gregorio Y. Ardales Jr., the UPRHS principal and project leader, leads the Agri Youth
Program in partnership with various agriculture-related institutions within UP Los Baños and
the Los Baños Science Community.
The initial plan for the program was to conduct a face-to-face classroom-type immersion and
training.
But they restructured it into a web-based interaction and engagement program because of the
pandemic.
The UPRHS set up the “Engaging the Youth in Agriculture” Facebook group as a venue for
the online activities of the program, taking advantage of the Filipino youth’s active use of
social media.
Every week the AgriYouth Program conducts online engagements such as webinars, contests,
agri-talks, agri-online classes, and others which started in January and will end in July 2021.
Text and photo: RA Limpiada
