The Department of Agriculture (DA) is launching this year’s Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) Batch 2025 Competition, with over 600 provincial winners from all over the country all set to be awarded P80,000 each in seed capital.
DA, in a statement yesterday, said an additional 45 regional winners and 15 intercollegiate teams will receive P300,000 each to grow their respective ventures. Participants are required to submit a business model canvas, a business plan, and pitch their ideas in a competitive business showdown.
The agency said that since the YFC competition’s inception in 2021, over 4,300 youth-led agribusiness ventures have already been started through the program, including those that involved making mango peels into soap, and preserving native stingless bees.
DA said that with the YFC competition, the future of Philippine agriculture will no longer be just about plows and fields as it now needs ideas and smart technologies.
“With fresh ideas, digital tools, and fearless energy, our young farmers are making agriculture smarter, more inclusive, and more sustainable,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
He added that more than just funding, the YFC program offers business development support through training, mentorship, trade expo participation, and product registration with partnerships with the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, state universities and colleges, local government units, and private companies.
Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) 2022 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries Agricultural Households and Operators, the average number of agricultural operators per agricultural household in the country was at 1.05 operators per household.
