Enabling the poor farmers to free themselves from hunger and poverty by growing multiple crops and livestock in a corn-based farm and to increase their incomes, Malacañang has issued Executive Order (EO) 710 adopting the Corn-based Farmer-Scientists Research, Development and Extension (RDE) Training Program (FSTP) as a national program.

FSTP is an agricultural RDE strategy that primarily aims to change and improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of farmers in a corn-based production system to adopt the scientific methods of farming.

Prior to the implementation of the EO, FSTP is already a successful program benefiting more than 8,000 farmers who are now producing 4-6 tons/ha of corn and other crops by applying newly developed technologies.

The strategy was piloted in Argao, Cebu in 1994 under the project title, "Development and Establishment of an Integrated Corn-based Farming System for a Sustainable Agricultural Progra, in Northern Argao, Cebu: The Farmer-Scientists Training Program" with funding support from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).

Dr. Romulo G. Davide of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) led the project which expanded in the provinces of Cebu, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Occidental Mindoro, and Compostela Valley Province.

According to Dr. Davide, the project has succeeded beyond expectation demonstrating how small marginalized farmers can be empowered with enough scientific knowledge in farming to produce more than their subsistence level.

With the issuance of EO 710, Davide is optimistic that more poor farmers will benefit from adopting FSTP as a national program enabling them to uplift their standard of living.

As stated in the EO, FSTP as a national program will be jointly implemented by DA, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Interior and Local Government, UPLB, and other concerned agencies.

DA takes the lead in the implementation of FSTP. In particular, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) to institutionalize FSTP as one of its extension approaches to ensure its successful implementation down to its intended beneficiaries, and BAR to facilitate the transfer of farming technologies developed by R&D agencies to the FSTP beneficiaries.

In support with FSTP as a national program, DA-BAR is currently funding a two-year project, "Farmers-Scientists Training Program: A Community Research and Development on Technology Transfer and Adoption in Corn-Based Production System" which is being implemented in the two municipalities of Region 8 (Samar and Leyte).

The project, which is in line with Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap's renewed programs on making business from agriculture, is being implemented by UPLB in collaboration with the local government unit.

The adoption of FSTP as a national program is in part of the government's development plan of enhancing the economy's global competitiveness and alleviating hunger and poverty. This is also in consistent with the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-2010 in particular, developing at least two million hectares of new agribusiness lands.