GMVCC Garchitorena Agribusiness students start internship program

By Annalyn Gallego

A strong partnership between the school institution and the government is one of the many ways to provide quality education for the students in the communities. Students gain experiential learning when they are out of the classrooms, immersing in the real-life works on the ground.

Twenty-two (22) graduating students from the Governor Mariano E. Villafuerte Community College in Garchitorena taking BS Agribusiness were given the opportunity to conduct their internship at Badang ni Ignacio, an Integrated-Diversified Farm at San Joaquin, San Fernando, CamSur.

Badang ni Ignacio is run by Christian Life Community (CLC) and is accredited by Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) as a learning site for agriculture. It is an 11-hectare farm engaging both in plants and animals and is complete with facilities to provide students all the trainings they need in agriculture.

“The purpose of this internship is to apply all the theories and knowledge students learned from the academe on their two years of face-to-face classes and two years of blended learning. They need practical application of their learnings, like managing animals, poultry, piggery, among others,” said Marily Aspe, Program Head of BS Agribusiness in GMVCC Garchitorena.

Among all provincially-managed colleges, only GMVCC Garchitorena offers a course in Agribusiness. It is also a mandate of the Commission on Higher Education to have a 240-hour of on-the-job training for agribusiness students.

Series of lectures and activities are aligned for the students to learn and to adopt topics on agriculture and crop science, organic and sustainable farming, swine farming, poultry farming, making of organic fertilizers, crop protection and management, among others.

“I’m expecting to learn how to properly handle livestock, how to cultivate lands especially in landscaping and horticulture. It is good to have our internship here because of the complete facilities which is essential for us to explore and experience different sectors of agriculture,” shared student-trainee Andrew Villanueva Jr. from Del Pilar, Garchitorena.

The internship of the students was also supported by the Local Government Unit of San Fernando. Mayor Fermin Mabulo expressed his support by providing rice for the students’ food allocation, as well as other needs during the internship.

The Municipal Agriculture Office also pledged to help the interns with their technical expertise in agriculture. They are also grateful for the partnership as it will make a way to promote further the course of agriculture in their community.

“At least sarong aki sa kada pamilya an ma-engage sa agriculture dahil dakulaon an role kan agriculture sector sa community lalong-lalo na sa food security and sa panahon ngunyan na grabe an pagtios asin paglangkaw nin different agricultural inputs,” said Allan Salvador, Municipal Agriculturist of San Fernando.

The Provincial Government of Camarines Sur has always been supportive of the education of students especially in the community colleges. Continued collaboration with different institutions can generate learning opportunities and access to services that support students’ learning and development.