By Asst. Prof. Dee Balestramon Lucena

Congratulations to April A. Paligumba of CPU-BSABE for earning a Top 7 spot in the DA’s Young Farmers Challenge Start-Up Regional Competition through her innovative enterprise, BUHI IntelliFarm Systems! Publication material courtesy of Young Farmers Challenge – Western Visayas.

A student from the BS Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (BSABE) program of the College of Agriculture, Resources and Environmental Sciences (CPU-CARES) has been named among the Top 7 in the Season 6 Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) Start-Up Regional Level Competition for Western Visayas, a nationwide grant program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

April A. Paligumba, BSABE-4, earned the recognition for her enterprise, BUHI IntelliFarm Systems, which represented the Province of Capiz. Her entry advanced from the provincial level, where she was one of five CPU-BSABE students across four entries named Provincial Awardees in the Start-Up Category.

Based on the official announcement of the YFC, each of the Top 7 agri-fishery enterprises will receive an additional grant prize of PhP150,000.00.

The Young Farmers Challenge is a nationwide competitive grant program of the DA that supports Filipinos aged 18 to 30 in developing agri-fishery enterprises. It combines financial assistance with business development support such as training, mentoring, and market linkages.

For the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Management of CPU-CARES, the result reflects a deliberate direction in its research and innovation work: ideas developed in the classroom and laboratory are meant to reach farmers and communities, not remain academic exercises. Paligumba’s venture was built on that principle, as a practical, community-grounded solution to a real problem in agri-fishery production and enterprise development.