By Alma L. Tingcang
IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay – The Junior Chamber International (JCI) Philippines and the Universal Harvester Inc. (UHI) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced that they are now accepting nominations for the Search for the Most Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines.
Dr. Milagros Ong-How, UHI Executive Vice President said the search comprises two categories: Individual Category which includes farmer, fisherfolk, livestock, woman farmer, agri-enterpreneur, young farmer, agri-innovator, urban/city farmer; and Group Category consisting of cooperatives, family farmer, local government unit, agri-initiatives, indigenous people, and other groups.
“Prizes at stake include a trophy and P50 thousand cash for the Individual Category and P100,000 cash for the Group Category,” announced Dr. How in the recent launching held in Ipil.
Nominations will be accepted until Sept. 30, 2014 while the validation of nominations will be held in October. Judging will be in November and winners will receive their awards on the 15th of the same month.
The search is open to all and anybody can nominate more than one. It may be written in Filipino, English or mix of both which should be duly signed and notarized. Nomination forms can be downloaded from its website, www.tofarm.org.
Anchored on promoting farming among the youth in all regions, TOFARM was formerly known as Outstanding Farmers of the Year (OFY) during the early 70’s initiated by the Philippine Jaycees. The last OFY was in 2003, which was later revived in 2012 in partnership with Universal Harvester, Inc.
Among the objectives of the project are: to increase private and public sector’s participation in the annual search and award; safeguard the interest and welfare of the agriculture sector; promote farming as a noble and profitable endeavor; promote the best practices, techniques and technology in agriculture.