Reducing Rural Poverty through Agroentrepreneurship

As the FARM project commenced last December 2014, a new project in Agriculture department started this year. This intervention called “Reducing rural poverty through agroentrepreneurship” is a 3 year intervention in partnership with PinoyME Foundation, designed to upscale the previous FARM project flagship farmer groups. This time, Pasali Philippines will direct its effort in organizational strengthening of the clustered coffee farmers in Sarangani ( Alabel, Maasim and Kiamba) and Sultan Kudarat ( Lebak & Kalamansig) Province. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase the income of target beneficiaries by at least 20% from their current income by the end of the project.  At least 50% of direct beneficiaries will be women. Furthermore, Pasali will develop a farmer-owned business from start-up to sustainability stag that can carry on the business beyond the life of this project. 

In order to achieve this goal, Pasali will assist farmers in organizing a fully functional farmers’ organizations (either cooperatives or associations) that are profitable and viable business entities.  These business entities are registered with the government; have installed policies, systems and procedures; and competent leaders.  They will be responsible for organizing the production and consolidation of their products so that they can deliver consistently to their target markets.  In the process, these entities will be able to engage in business operations that are profitable while also serving to increase the income of their members.

While Pasali will focus on aggregation of products, local market development and institution building, funding partner PinoyME will provide business advisory services to help the business of the beneficiaries become more profitable, mobilize other technical assistance (e.g. technology application, product development, etc.) through its network of BDS providers, and mobilize financing from MFIs and other financial institutions to address the different financing needs of the farmers. CRS will continue to provide technical assistance in Agroenterprise Development technology and make available its technical staff for consultation and mentoring of farmers.