Agricultural Tv Channel in the Philippines (NU6-5 by Verman T. Reyes) AGSB Clark - entrep

Agricultural Tv Channel in the Philippines NU6-5 by Verman T. Reyes Poverty incidence in the Philippines mostly in remote areas are said to be farmers and fishefolks. Statistics say that 40% of the poor come from the agriculture and aquaculture industry. They are either uneducated or don't have the new skills to improve their craft. In Thailand, the Thai king established and subsidizes a tv program solely on agriculture and aquaculture industry. The reason behind this is to always update thai farmers new farm practices and new agriculture programs of the government for the farmers. Information is a powerful tool to make farmers be more efficient and also to promote farming is not just a lifestyle but a business. You can really make money on farming or fishing. In Thailand, thai farmers are rich, they drive toyota hilux, isuzu dmax and mitsubishi strada. Sometimes our poor farmers here don't even have a transportation vehicle but merely a motorbike. <those planting SL8 rice variety now do> When will our poor farmers progress? They should be the one getting rich because they produce crops or food for our country. One solution is information dissemination. If we educate our farmers, they will improve their ways of farming in the old tradition by mixing with a new way of farming integrating modern technologies. My solution is to establish an all agricultural tv channel in the Philippines. The government can jumpstart this project and eventually could sell this to private firms or make this a private/public project venture. Why the goverment? 1. They have at present own RPN 9 and PTV 4, which sometimes feature agricultural shows. They could spin-off one of this channels to the idea. 2. They have the financial capabilities. At present, government has a P60-P70 billion pesos budget on agricultural industry. If they could just alot about 1% of that budget about P600,000,000 to P700,000,000 to the operation of that channel. 3. Government has a lot of agricultural resources that could be source of programs to be featured like interview of scientist from UP Los Banos and Philrice. And feature successful farmers as testimonials. 4. The government has a wide network of organizations that are agricultural related that could serve as promotion to this idea. <or require telcos and radio stations to devote time, free sms on agrinnews:  price of commodities, weather;  they have this in Thailand> Would this be feasible? Would it make money and be sustainable. Yes, I believe that this project is feasible and could make a profit by creating good innovative tv programs and shows. If people get interested then they will always watch the tv programs and create more viewership which advertisers like. The more viewership, the more advertisers will place an ad to the tv channel. How to create innovative tv program and shows related only to agriculture? 1. Also create subsidiary radio station, farmers wake up early in the morning to listen to the radio. They could create tv and radio programs combined. 2. Create a talk show about new farm practices and interview with successful scientist farmers. 3. Create cooking show by using food that could be grown in the farm and fresh. So that farmers realize that they could create delicious dishes grown direct from their farms. 4. Visit different farms and plantation to showcase the local farmers. This could create agri-tourism which could be a viable income for farmers. 5. Also this is a good way to promote international farming practices like of that in Japan farming. 6. This could be also a good platform to announce government updates regarding status of our agricultural industry and opportunities that farmers can venture. 7. That agriculture is not just a lifestyle but also a business. The tv program could entice new farmers especially the younger generations. Recommendation I think, it's a good time to create this tv program about agricultural because our economy and population is growing and we could entice corporation to sponsor or advertise in the tv channel.4