Rural Filipino farmers are reinventing themselves from smallholders to food-processing entrepreneurs through a participatory learning approach known as the Farmer Business School (FBS). Implemented by the International Potato Center’s (CIP) project on Food Resilience through Root and Tuber Crops in Upland and Coastal Communities of the Asia-Pacific (FoodSTART+), the FBS methodology deepens farmers’ understanding of value chains while providing the … Read More
Sweetpotato Jams and Juices Contribute to Forest Conservation in the Philippines
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
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
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
The Search for the Significant Story: A training workshop on the Most Significant Change Approach
As natural narrators, stories captivate people’s interest. These days, stories are used to present different facets of outcomes of a development project, especially to understand the significant changes that occurred after an intervention. Thus, FoodSTART+ organized a training workshop on the Most Significant Change (MSC) approach for nine (9) members of its team and partners from the Fisheries, Coastal Resources … Read More
