Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 17) — A lawmaker has filed a House bill seeking to provide scholarships on agriculture-related courses to head off a possible shortage of workers in the industry.
AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilber Lee filed House Bill 2419 or the proposed Agripreneurs Scholarship Program Act to encourage more students to take up degree programs in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
The proposed measure aims to establish an “Integrated Agripreneurs Scholarship Program in state-owned universities and colleges.”
Lee said there is a need to find ways to train a new batch of students to adapt to technological advances to boost the agriculture sector.
“Given that the average age of our farmers now is 57 to 59 years old, we need to find a way to inject new blood into the farming industry or the agricultural sector,” Lee told CNN Philippines’ The Final Word.
“If we don’t do anything about this right now, in a matter of 10 to 15 years we might face a shortage of farmers,” the lawmaker added.
To fund the scholarships, Lee proposed a ₱1-billion annual fund from the government to cover an estimated 200,000 students.
Under the bill, tuition, living expenses, books, uniforms, dorm allowances, internships, and licensing exam expenses are all covered by the scholarship.
