Monsanto Philippines recently conducted a seminar on financial literacy for 200 corn farmers in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan, with the goal of broadening farmer’s knowledge on managing farm income and finances. The event was organized in partnership with the local government of Urbiztondo, a third class municipality, through its Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO).
The training was facilitated by financial consultants from the International Marketing Group-Wealth Academy (IMG-Wealth Academy). The 200 farmers who attended the training were selected from each of the corn farming barangays of Urbiztondo.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Martin Sison II highlighted that trainings like this are beneficial especially to farmers. He requested the “attendees to share the knowledge that they have gained from the seminar to their fellow farmers and neighbors so that everyone can benefit from it.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Charina Garrido-Ocampo, Corporate Affairs Lead of Monsanto Philippines, stressed the importance of broadening financial literacy in the rural parts of the country. “According to the 2015 survey of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services, Philippines is one of the 30 least financially literate countries in the world, and only 25% of Filipino adults are aware of the basics of managing their finances,” Ocampo said.
During the seminar, the farmers were trained how to manage their income and were taught some strategies on how to save money. The financial consultants from IMG gave a lecture on how to build a solid financial foundation. “When it comes to securing and saving for their future, many people fail. They don’t set out to fail, but they do because they failed to plan and manage their personal finances. They lack financial education,” said Mr. Budz Oblena, one of the speakers from IMG- Wealth Academy.
This is the third financial literacy training which Monsanto conducted. The first one was held in Bukidnon where they trained 300 farming families on financial and digital literacy, followed by a seminar in Cagayan where they reached out to 200 government employees and underprivileged college students.
In her closing remarks, Vice Mayor Marilyn Sison expressed her gratitude to Monsanto Philippines for helping the farmers in Urbiztondo. “Our focus in on agriculture– most importantly our farmers. We are happy that Monsanto reached out to us and we appreciate that they have chosen our Municipality to be a beneficiary of their activity,” she articulated. # (Monsanto Philippines/TN)
