The Department of Agriculture (DA) MIMAROPA kicked off its Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) information dissemination campaign on August 15, Wednesday, at the Palawan International
Technology Business Incubator (PITBI) Co-working Space, aiming to empower young farmers and fisherfolk to be active partners in food security and agricultural development and
modernization.

In an interview with PITBI on Tuesday, Charlyn Abrina said that the program encourages the youth to engage in activities related to agriculture. Agribusiness, and agri-entrepreneurship as
agents and partners for sustainable development.

The information campaign centered on promoting the four components of the YFC program, the scope of the competition, qualified applicants for the YFC program, the duties and
responsibilities of the YFC awardees as well as the success stories of the grantee from the municipality of the Aborlan, Palawan.

The Agri-Business Models for the YFC regional Intercollegiate Competition Theme shall focus on start-up agri-fishery enterprises—from micro to small scale—which are innovative, have
potential to generate income and integrate sustainability into their business strategy, eyeing to encourage the generation of new agri-fishery enterprises.

To qualify for the YFC Regional Intercollegiate competition, the following criteria shall be observed. Age is 18-30 years old at the time of the competition, natural-born Filipino citizen; and
a group composed of 2-3 members. All the members shall be at least regular 2nd year students of State University or College (SUC) who must be members of the Philippine Association of
State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) with formal or non-formal agriculture or fishery related experience. Lastly, has the resources,
network, or capability to venture/engage in agriculture and fishery business enterprise, the location of which is within the region they are competing.