• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
Twenty-one trainees have officially finished a training course focused on sugarcane production with National Certificate Level II (NCII) issued by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), during their graduation rites at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos in Bacolod City on Saturday.
The course specialized in sugarcane production was the first program offered by the TESDA, which pioneered its first batch at the UNO-R under its Special Technological and Educational Programs (STEP).
Out of 25 trainees enrolled, 21 passed the qualifications for NCII during the comprehensive 4-month course training, gaining hands-on experience in everything, from field preparation and sugarcane farming, to the vital post-production processes.
“Sugarcane production is really intended to capacitate our industry [sugar industry] with higher-level skills and better competence, ultimately to make better our yield and our industry here in Negros,” TESDA Secretary Jose Francisco Benitez said in an interview.
Benitez also disclosed that the TESDA was giving larger focus on equipping youth with agriculture-based knowledge and skills as the department targets food security and food sufficiency for the future.
“It is part of a larger initiative where our basic commodities like food, sugarcane, and others are what we need to target food security; ideally, if we can have food sufficiency, that is even better,” he added.
Most of the trainees who embarked on the sugarcane production training were out-of-school youth across the province, and are sons or daughters of sugarcane farmers.
According to Benitez, TESDA prioritized these individuals who were most in need of social mobility, as they aim to alleviate poverty in the province and to ensure that they will have access to higher-level skills.
“This training will equip local workers with the technical skills needed to improve productivity and sustainability in the Negros sugar industry, helping to strengthen the region’s sugarcane production for years to come,” he highlighted.
TESDA is currently working with the enterprises across the country to secure a connection for job opportunities to be given to the graduates, where they can apply their acquired skills in real-world settings.*
