More agriculture graduates needed: DoST-10 exec

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) in Northern Mindanao said it has noticed a drop in student enrollees studying courses related to Agriculture, drawing concerns that it may affect the agriculture sector in the long run.

DOST-10 Regional Director Alfonso Alamban, said there are no indications that the decline of enrollees in Agriculture programs is connected to the Department of Education's K to 12 curriculum.

Alamban noted that enrollment in agriculture-related courses by government scholars have been mostly anemic in the past years, though he did not cite specific figures.

However, the DoST-10 official said the agency's scholarship program may help turn the tide by promoting agri-based programs.

Still, he said government scholars are given the last say on their preferred courses and convincing them to choose agri-business courses would depend on how aggressive agricultural schools are in promoting their programs.

"I know some agri(culture) schools are doing special campaigns" to promote agricultural courses,” he said.

One way to attract students, he said, is to promote food science and technology programs that are allied fields of agriculture studies.

Alamban said the DoST has been monitoring the trends based on how student grantees of the agency's scholarship program chose their courses, and the school's overall enrollment population.

The figure, he said, is not encouraging.

In Region 10, for instance, there are only 28 scholars who took up agriculture-related courses out of the region's 1,211 DOST scholars.

DoST-10 record shows that most of the agency's scholars prefer a degree in biology and other engineering and technology-related courses. (PNA)