Propensity of Agriculture Employees to Pursue Capacity Building and Advanced Courses in Organic Agriculture – A Demand Survey

Abstract

Progress in the field of organic agriculture (OA) carries the challenge of training and educating various stakeholders involved in its development and promotion. To determine whether there is sufficient demand for master’s and doctoral degree programs and capacity building offered by higher education institutions (HEIs) such as the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), a survey was conducted among agriculture personnel of nearby government agriculture offices. Also surveyed were supervisors of such offices and government-accredited private extension service providers (ESPs) to find out whether they will send their staff to take such advanced OA courses, if offered. Data collected from 205 prospective students or trainees and 23 supervisors were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that 89% of prospective students were willing to attend training or seminars, 55% would enroll on a master’s degree program, and 35% on a doctoral degree program related to OA. Likewise, all supervisors supported the idea of sending their personnel to training and seminars while 91% and 67% were willing to have their employees take up master’s and doctoral degree programs, respectively. These indicate a good demand for OA courses reinforcing any initiative of the academe to develop and train OA experts through high-impact academic programs that support OA.