MANILA, Philippines — The country’s top culinary school is offering a first of its kind Culinary Agripreneurship diploma program to ensure food security – from planting, sourcing, processing, delivery, up to the preparation of food for the family at home.
“Even before the pandemic, CCA Manila has already been equipping students with the principles of food security. In fact, we are starting to offer our groundbreaking course – the Diploma in Culinary Agripreneurship, which combines the best teachings of Agriculture with the best practices of Entrepreneurship, with emphasis on food security,” said Bea Trinidad, corporate communications and PR manager of CCA Manila.
“This is a course that is not only timely – it is also the most appropriate time to look into how we produce food that will benefit the majority,” she added.
For the agriculture course, CCA Manila partnered with the College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS) of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB); while for entrepreneurship, the culinary school teamed up with the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P).
“Food security is now one of the major issues being faced. If Filipinos will be able to produce their own food with the use of different techniques and setups in agriculture in their backyard and have the basic knowledge on how to prepare the raw ingredients, food security could be addressed at the community level,” said Barbara Caoili, associate dean for research and extension, CAFS of UPLB.
“The college, as a premier institution of higher learning in agriculture and food science in the country, will equip students with knowledge, such as techniques on crop production and small animal raising to experience how food is produced to achieve the farm-to-fork goal. Additionally, students will learn how to operate small farms and gardens for sustainability and environmental stewardship,” said Caoili.
One of the best offerings of the program is that students will learn how to “conceptualize, process, and evaluate food products derived from fruits, vegetables, and small animals.
Under the Culinary Agripreneurship diploma course, the UA&P EM program gives students a solid foundation in entrepreneurship and other business-related modules. Students acquire knowledge and skills valuable in business set-up and operations.
“Before the crisis, our target for this program were aspiring chefs and farm owners (or their children). But we now realize that more Filipinos are becoming concerned about Food Security. A lot have discovered that they are passionate to be involved in any aspect of the agriculture value-chain − from planting in the field, to preparing finished products, and serving healthy meals from sustainable sources,” said Trinidad.
– The Philippine Star
