21 Coconut Farmers Scholarship Program Trainees Complete Organic Agriculture Production NC II at AGREA Farm School

Twenty-one CFSP scholars completed a 32-day Organic Agriculture Production NC II training at AGREA Farm School and underwent competency assessment from June 12–14, 2026.

Thirty-two days, then three days of assessment

The training ran for 32 days. The assessment took three.

From June 12 to 14, 2026, the 21 trainees of the Coconut Farmers Scholarship Program (CFSP) at AGREA Farm School sat for their national competency assessment in Organic Agriculture Production NC II, immediately after completing the 32-day training program. They are now certified as competent in the qualification, the culmination of weeks of hands-on work in organic vegetable production, organic fertilizer and concoction preparation, and livestock management.

The cohort is part of a continuing partnership between AGREA Foundation and TESDA Marinduque. AGREA Farm School, located in Barangay Cawit, Boac, Marinduque, is the first TESDA-accredited farm school in the province and a certified Organic Agriculture Learning Site of the Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Training Institute.

What the 32 days involved

Organic Agriculture Production NC II is a TESDA qualification that covers the competencies required to produce organic farm products specifically organic chicken and vegetables and to produce organic supplements such as fertilizer, concoctions, and extracts.

The qualification is structured around basic, common, and core competencies. Basic competencies include workplace communication, teamwork, career professionalism, and occupational health and safety. Common competencies cover applying safety measures in farm operations, using farm tools and equipment, performing estimation and calculations, developing and updating industry knowledge, and performing record-keeping. Core competencies include raising organic chicken, producing organic vegetables, producing organic fertilizer, and producing organic concoctions and extracts.

At AGREA Farm School, the CFSP cohort completes the qualification over 32 days in an intensive, full-time format. The training is hands-on by design: trainees work with soil, seedlings, organic inputs, and animals rather than learning only from manuals. The Farm School’s approach treats the farm itself as the classroom, with trainees practising the tasks they will later perform on their own land or in their own enterprises.

What the assessment measured

The competency assessment is the point at which training is tested against a national standard. For OAP NC II, competency in the core units is assessed through demonstration with oral questioning and a written examination. Candidates are observed performing practical tasks and questioned on the reasoning behind their actions, and they complete a written component covering the knowledge requirements of the qualification.

A National Certificate (NC II) is issued when a candidate has demonstrated competence in all the units of competency that comprise the qualification. The certificate is valid for five years.

The three-day assessment window, June 12–14, followed immediately after the training’s completion. For the trainees, it was the moment when weeks of practice were evaluated against a standard they did not set, the same standard applied to organic agriculture practitioners across the country.

Why the CFSP exists, and who it serves

The Coconut Farmers Scholarship Program is a TESDA scholarship implemented under Republic Act No. 11524, the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act. It provides free skills training, a free national competency assessment, a training support fund of PHP 160 per day, and free entrepreneurship training.

Eligibility is specific. Applicants must be Filipino citizens, at least 18 years old by the end of training, a coconut farmer or a dependent of one, and registered in the National Coconut Farmers Registry System of the Philippine Coconut Authority.

The program’s design responds to a structural problem in coconut farming. Income from copra arrives in lumps, often separated by long intervals, and is rarely sufficient on its own for a household. The CFSP is intended to help beneficiaries gain additional livelihood opportunities and improve their income, whether by diversifying production, adding value, or pursuing employment in the agri-fishery sector. Training in organic agriculture is one route to that objective: it equips coconut farmers and their families with a qualification that can support vegetable production, native chicken raising, fertilizer and concoction production, or work in organic enterprises.

What the completion means for the graduates

For the 21 trainees, the immediate outcome is a qualification. They have completed a nationally accredited training program and been assessed as competent in its units of competency. That credential is portable: it can support applications for employment, access to government livelihood programs, or the establishment of small enterprises.

But the qualification is a means, not an end. AGREA Farm School’s model is built around the expectation that graduates will apply the training, on their own farms, on family land, or in cooperative or community enterprises. The Farm School has documented graduate outcomes along these lines. One CFSP graduate, Janet, completed 32 days of OAP NC II training and now grows vegetables on family land and raises pigs, with plans to expand her livelihood in Marinduque. Her trajectory reflects the program’s stated objective: technical competence combined with the confidence to apply it.

Whether the current cohort follows a similar path will depend on factors the training cannot control, access to land, capital, markets, and the support of their households and communities. The training provides a foundation. The rest is built afterward.

The institutional context

AGREA Foundation’s mission is to help eradicate poverty for farming and fishing families, alleviate the effects of climate change, and contribute to food security in the Philippines. Its primary mechanism is the One Island Economy model, a framework for a sustainable island economy in Marinduque built on the goals of zero hunger, zero waste, and zero insufficiency.

The Farm School is one expression of that model. Agriculture education, in this framing, is not only about skills transfer. It is about building the capacity of people in agricultural communities to make decisions, manage enterprises, and participate in the island’s food system on better terms. The completion of another cohort is a contribution to that longer effort, not a conclusion to it.

We congratulate the 21 graduates on completing the training and the assessment. The work they do next is the measure that matters.

Learn more

To learn more about AGREA Farm School’s programs and TESDA scholarship opportunities in Marinduque, visit AGREA Foundation’s official channels or inquire directly with the Farm School in Barangay Cawit, Boac. Interested applicants can also coordinate with TESDA Marinduque for CFSP eligibility and documentary requirements.