DILIMAN, Quezon City—To influence young Filipino students to engage in backyard farming and other agriculture-related activities, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) has partnered with the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) for the development of AgriCOOLture videos.
“AgriCOOLture”, which is short for “agriculture become cool” is a KCFI program that uses fun and educational content to motivate urban youth and their families to incorporate farming and gardening into their everyday life. Launched in 2016, the program explores the potential of agripreneurship through aquaculture, crop production, and poultry and showcases agriculture as a thriving sector that contributes to the country’s economy and food security.
Under the ATI and KCFI partnership, seven episodes of videos entitled “AgriCOOLture Kasama sina Kuya Edward at Buknoy” was developed. The videos’ main focus is on highlighting urban farming technologies in support to the Department of Agriculture’s Plant, Plant, Plant Program.
To test the videos’ acceptability among teachers and students, a virtual focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted via Google Meet on February 1-2, 2021. A total of 84 Grade 4 students and seven teachers from the Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina City participated in the activity.
The FGD was facilitated by the specialists and researchers of the KCFI and was observed by some technical staff of the ATI’s Information Services Division. To determine the participants’ current knowledge about urban agriculture, a pretest was conducted before the actual viewing of the videos. Interview, post-test, and survey were also done to gather comments and feedback.
Most students shared that they enjoyed the videos and found these fun and educational. Meanwhile, the teachers commented that they could use the videos in teaching Science and Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan subjects.
One student commented: “I learned from the videos not to waste food, especially fruits and vegetables, because it takes a long time and a lot of effort between planting and harvesting.
The AgriCOOLture videos “Kasama sina Kuya Edward at Buknoy” will soon be available on air via Knowledge Channel and online via their YouTube channel and website. # # #
(Catheryn M. Villorente / DA-ATI)
