Once considered a survival food during times of drought or severe rains, sweetpotato cultivation is quickly turning into a lucrative business opportunity for entrepreneurial farmers while promoting forest conservation in the process. In a swath of the Philippines where the forests offer a buffer against the damage posed by severe storms, a staggering poverty rate of 46.9 percent threatens to … Read More
Analyzing Farmer Business Schools from gender and social perspectives in Meghalaya, India
FoodSTART+ considers gender as an important component for inclusive and equitable development. Having social diversity among group members can strengthen group activities by sharing and building on different ideas and experiences. On the other hand, social diversity involves power dynamics, and careful analysis is required to understand whether and how members participated. To explore these gender and social dimensions in … Read More
Fisherfolk-turned-Entrepreneur Groups Launch their Businesses in Tacloban City
Twelve farmer-fisherfolk groups have successfully showcased their innovative products at the Aqua-based Business School with Gender and Climate Change Perspective (ABS-GCC): Business Launching held on 29 May 2019 in Robinsons Place Mall, Marasbaras in Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines. The Business Launch is a milestone for the groups as the event served as a culminating activity on the completion of the … Read More
Balangiga Farmer-Fisherfolk’s Wives Learn How to Make Food Products from Dried Cassava Grates
Eight members of the Fisheries and Agricultural Crop Producers Association of Bacjao (FACPAB) from Balangiga, Eastern Samar, were trained on cassava food processing last 25-26 March 2019 at the Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center of the Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte. FACPAB is one of the 14 pilot groups composed of farmer-fisherfolks enrolled in the Aqua-based Business … Read More
iMPACT Magazine Features FoodSTART+
FoodSTART+ is featured in the latest iMPACT magazine issue. FoodSTART+ Principal Investigator, Diego Naziri, and CIAT Market Access Specialist, Brice Even shared how the partnership between grant projects and investment projects can facilitate taking innovations to scale. From the experience of FoodSTART+, the success of the project highly depends on the outcome of the partnership with investment projects — who … Read More
FishCORAL and FoodSTART+ conducts the Stakeholders’ Validation Workshop in Region 8
Dream big, start small. Everything has to start somewhere. At some point, all big and successful entrepreneurial ventures began from whispers of innovative thoughts turned into sparks of creativity and eventually transformed into burning flames of passion powerful enough to make these dreams come to reality. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 8 through the Fisheries Coastal Resource … Read More
Capturing stories of women through the Most Significant Change Approach
Story-telling is a powerful communication tool as it is useful to captivate people’s interest. The Food Resilience through Root and Tuber Crops in Upland and Coastal Communities of the Asia Pacific (FoodSTART+) uses the Most Significant Change (MSC) approach to gauge the impact of the Farmers Business School (FBS) interventions and showcase the outcomes brought to the target beneficiaries of … Read More
FishCORAL Conducts ABS Stakeholders Validation Meeting in Region 8 and ARMM
In a bid to help boost the economic conditions of the participating People’s Organizations (POs) in the covered regions, the Fisheries, Coastal Resources, and Livelihood (FishCORAL) Project embarks on another level of strengthening the capacity building approach and livelihood assistance by introducing a gender-responsive enterprising known as the Aqua-base Business School with Gender and Climate Change perspective (ABS-GCC). The ABS … Read More
SOLID and FoodSTART+ Successfully Organize the Business Launch for Farmer Business School
The IFAD-supported investment project Smallholder Livelihood Development Project (SOLID) and the IFAD and EU-funded Food Resilience Through Root and Tuber Crops in Upland and Coastal Communities of the Asia-Pacific (FoodSTART+) successfully conducted the business launches of micro-enterprises established by farmer groups enrolled in the Farmer Business School (FBS). FBS is a value chain development approach that the Indonesian Food Security … Read More
