1st national rubber technology training ends today

Some 41 agricultural officers, environment officers, nursery operators from various provinces today graduated as rubber specialists from a month-long rubber technology training at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Also among the graduates were representatives from the Department of Agriculture Region II, IX, XII and ARMM, as well as soldiers from the 602nd Brigade based in Carmen, North Cotabato.

The training organized by the provincial government of North Cotabato and jointly supported by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, and National Agribusiness Corporation is part of the national rubber program which Gov. Manny F. Piñol has asked the national government to adopt.

“For a very long time, we have neglected the potential of the countryside, failed to focus on the more globally marketable high value crops like rubber, resulting in the pathetic condition of the people in the countryside,” Gov. Piñol said in his message to the graduates.

“Our experience in North Cotabato has proven that a refocused agricultural development program based on marketable high value crops is a very potent tool to combat poverty. From the 5th poorest in 1998, our province is now ranked 29th among the more progressive in the country according to the NSCB. ”

“We want to share this with the other provinces because our success would be meaningless if our other countrymen remain poor and hopeless,” he added.

Governor Piñol said rubber could well be the vehicle that will propel the country forward economically.

“A million hectares planted to rubber in the country would mean 500 thousand new jobs in the rubber plantations alone. If we add those who are needed to produce rubber farm implements like tapping knives, rings, etc., the count could easily run to 1.5 million jobs. Filipinos would no longer need to suffer the indignation of working abroad as domestic helpers,” he said.

“What we are all doing is a historic step to provide hope for our people,” the governor added.
The training participants which came from Isabela, Benguet,Mindoro Occidental, Palawan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Zamboang Sibugay, Bukidnon, Saranggani, South Cotabato and Maguindanao, were given lessons in nursery establishment, plantation establishment, soil suitability, operational requirements, processing and manufacturing among others.

“It’s practically a 1-year rubber technology course compressed into 1 month,’ said North Cotabato provincial agriculturist Antonio Balagot.

The participants were also taught how to prepare feasibility studies and project proposals for establishment of nurseries, plantations, and rubber processing or manufacturing projects for presentation to their respective LGUs and agencies for funding.

Gov. Piñol has proposed that the new rubber specialists be sent to Kuala Lumpur in November for an educational trip to the Malaysian Rubber Board’s research and development facility there.

“We will request the DA to sponsor the trip, but the LGUs should of course have a counterpart,” he said.