As part of its UOP or University Outreach Program, Monsanto Philippines toured schools in the Visayas, January 26 and 27, all the while bringing the story of Lina’s Town Rises Again in these campuses.
The company broadened its OUP reach with Lina’s Town Rises Again Animation Viewing, being conducted nationwide,visiting the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV) Donato M. Pison Elementary School and Nabitasan Elementary School in Iloilo- a promising region for corn production.
Monsanto has earlier visited state universities and elementary schools in Luzon and Mindanao, primarily briefing students and faculty members from various disciplines such as Agriculture, Science, Communications and other related courses of colleges and universities with “Monsanto & the Work That We Do”.
This covers topics such as Sustainable Agriculture, the use of biotechnology in farming, careers in the agricultural industry, and the company’s corporate social responsibility programs.
“Monsanto remains committed to providing and promoting the use of modern biotechnology and agricultural solutions to help farmers address their challenges. Our university outreach is an opportunity to share information with important stakeholders who can help improve agriculture in the country,” Monsanto Philippines Corporate Affairs Lead and the author of Lina’s Town Rises Again, Charina Ocampo said.
Ocampo also shared that aside from opening opportunities for partnerships with academic institutions, the outreach program and animation showings aim to provide students with knowledge and updated information on agriculture which hopefully they will find very useful now and in the future.
Meanwhile, the animation showing of the book Lina’s Town Rises Again is an activity being conducted with elementary students which aims to develop a basic understanding of the impact of biotech corn in social, economic and environmental terms amongst students.
Lina’s Town Rises Again is the first storybook about biotech corn which touches on the themes of sustainability, collaboration and safety by narrating the true and inspiring story of a lady farmer from Sultan Kudarat, Aling Consolacion Reyes. It narrates how biotech corn seeds positively transformed Aling Conching’s life, and enabled her farming community to recover economically in the aftermath of a devastating typhoon.
About 400 students and faculty members are expected to participate in the two-day activity. This early, the company is already expressing appreciation for the support the officials from the said university and elementary schools have extended to promote sustainable agriculture.
Ocampo is also among the speakers in the briefing with the students along with Monsanto Philippines Human Resource Lead Cherie Lou Ocampo, and Regulatory Affairs Lead Dr. Gabriel Romero.
“Monsanto & the Work That We Do” started in 2014 and has engaged in more than 2000 students and teachers from several universities in Luzon and Mindanao. While, the recent showing of the animation version of the book, Lina’s Town Rises Again was held last November in two elementary schools in Quezon City with almost 800 students.
The said activity was co-organized with the Biotech Coalition of the Philippines as part of the celebration of the National Biotech Week.
Peter Paul Duran
