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The Philippine Embassy in Qatar kicked off its webinar series on agri-business, providing overview of available reintegration, online and livelihood programmes for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the country.
Cassandra Sawadjaan, Chargé d’Affaires of the Philippine Embassy said the webinar generated a strong interest among the Filipino community in Qatar.
She explained that the series of webinars is intended for those returning for good to the Philippines, and also for people who are intending to settle down back home anytime soon.
She noted that the seminar is timely as the world faces food security issues and rising inflation rate. “This is a good opportunity for OFWs to learn potential alternative sources of income in agri-business, especially when done the right way through our able persons and other experts elsewhere,” Sawadjaan said.
“When there are product demands, there are also supply opportunities. This is where the agri-business webinar series come to play. We will not only be taught specific business activities such as vegetable production and hog or livelihood stock raising, but also information on marketing these products. This webinar also will sow the seed of knowledge in you, and it is up to you to cultivate the seed and bloom where you are planted.”
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture - Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, Junbert De Sagun highlighted that the agri-business programme launched last year had provided support services including loan and credit assistance, trainings and orientation, and provision of information and education campaign (IEC) materials to a total of 2,755 OFWs in 137 OFW Cooperative associations.
“Through this webinar, we hope we can effectively share the government services and information on how you, our Kababayans can engage in agri-business, or how you can further expand your existing agricultural enterprises to sustain and grow your finances,” he explained.
The director also expressed hope that OFWs will see the “great potential benefit in agriculture and eventually consider it as a productive and lucrative source of income.”
The Micro Agri-business programme is a joint collaboration between the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment and Department of Agriculture to intensify the implementation of programmes, projects and services for OFWs and their families. It aims to capacitate overseas Filipinos who wish to pursue micro-agri-business ventures.
A memorandum of agreement was signed in January 2021 between the two departments for this venture.
Among the services being offered are: Information assistance in starting an agribusiness; Provision of learning kits and IEC materials’ Facilitation of access to financing programs, trainings, technologies, insurance; and Assistance in building network and market linkages.
The next webinar series will be held on Friday, September 2 at 10am.
It will discuss Hog Raising with speaker Jeron Gomez, DVM, Technical Support Service Group Head at URC-Agro-Industrial Group. Registration is now open which can be accessed through the official Facebook page of the Philippine Embassy in Qatar.
