Jerome B. Salazar, a BS Agriculture, Major in Horticulture graduate of the Tarlac Agricultural University in 2019, combines agriculture and entrepreneurship in his techno-demo cactus farm.
Salazar, a former student intern in Israel for Agrostudies Training Program in 2017-2018 and also a delegate in the Future Farmers of Thailand Skills Competition in 2016, has set up his own agribusiness enterprise, “Hortiphytes Garden of Serenity” in Anao, Tarlac, Philippines.
He shared that ever since childhood, he has already been interested about plants, so he pursued his formal education about horticulture. Further, he attributed that more than the practical knowledge he learned in the classroom, he was able to enhance his technical knowledge on plant hormones and proper fertilization during his international internship in Solomon Farm in Israel where he was deployed for 11 months. In his internship, he handled plant propagation, application of hormones and pesticides, pruning, harvesting, potting and packaging, as well as greenhouse and irrigation maintenance.
Moreover, he also appreciated his exposure during the FFT Skills Competition where the TAU team competed in the landscape category, which accoring to Salazar, made him appreciate more the application of aesthetics in agriculture.
He hopes that the agripreneurship endeavor he has started and developed will flourish so he can inspire more budding agriculturists and future international interns to apply the experience and skills they will learn in setting up their own business or techno-demo farms.