10 Dabawenyos selected for agri-scholarship program

Ten students from Davao City have been selected for the Education Assistance for Youth (EAsY) Agri-Scholarship Program offered by the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI).

The 10 young Dabawenyos, two of them members of the Indigenous Peoples’ community in Marilog District, were selected among the 46 applicants aspiring to pursue degrees in agriculture starting this school year 2020-2021.

EAsY is a college scholarship program to support children of smallholder farmers and fisherfolk who want to pursue a degree program in Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, or other agri-related courses in any State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the country.

“Out of the 46 applicants in the whole region, Davao City got 10 slots. Two of them are from the IP community of Marilog District and both will take up BS in Agricultural Education,” said Leo Brian Leuterio, the head of the Davao City Agriculturist’s Office (CAO).

Leuterio said that 14 slots were allotted for the whole Davao Region. Ten slots for BS Agriculture and related fields and four slots for BS Agricultural Biosystems Engineering (ABE).

The ten successful applicants are Honey Jean Curambao, Judy Ann Guitones, Trisha Nicole Lastimosa from Tugbok District; Anna Mae Mose, Elaiza Mose, Myriel Pocong, Erica Fate Luzara from Calinan District; Diana Manlangan and Chiane Fe Mansabanlay, both from Marilog District, and Rovelyn Edo from Toril District.

The scholarship program will cover four years of the scholar’s tertiary education and five years for those who will take the five-year BS Agricultural Biosystems Engineering course.

Leuterio said that the scholarship would encourage young people to pursue agriculture. “We took efforts to look for programs that support this objective – getting the youth into agriculture,” he said.

CAO assisted in finding the applicants who are interested and deserving of the scholarship program.

“We wanted to take advantage of the scholarship. So, our field officers looked for these students who are interested in agriculture. We gathered them and their documents, and brought them to the testing centers,” Leuterio said.

He added that his office will not stop their support and monitoring of the students, even after they already passed the application.

“We will not stop at this point. We will continue monitoring them to help them finish the courses they are in. So, there will come a time that they will become agricultural technologists in our city,” he said. CIO