CRITICAL REVIEW 
of

Reviving  Farming Interest in the Philippines

Through Agricultural Entrepreneurship Education 

Reporters:

Cruz, Angelica 

Casayuran, Ma. Abegail Pops  

Submitted to:

Ellen Joy O. Arquero, LPT

 Critical Review of a Journal 
“Reviving  Farming Interest in the Philippines Through Agricultural Entrepreneurship Education”

Introduction

    A Critical Review of Santiago, Andrea L., 2015: Reviving  Farming Interest in the Philippines Through
Agricultural Entrepreneurship Education. The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community
Development (JAFSCD). 

    Andrea L. Santiago, author of this Journal, holds a BSC Accounting, A Full Professor at the
Management and Organization Department (MOD) of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business
(RVR-COB) of De La Salle University (DLSU)(1999-2016), which she now serves as Dean. She earned
her Doctor of Business Administration from DLSU. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.

The title of the study is brief information on how farmers can become agricultural entrepreneurs to
lift them in poverty as well as the agricultural economy in the Philippines. It also describes how private
organizations help farmers regain their farming interest as well as the next generation to stay in
agriculture.
The importance of this commentary is to encourage and educate current farmers as well as their
children to become agripreneurship. It has the potential to contribute to social and economic development
in agriculture such as job creation, income generation, poverty reduction, and improvement in nutrition,
health, and overall food security in the national economy.  The author seeks to address how to revive their
interest in agricultural farming. This study aims to sustain the agricultural economy in the Philippines.
And education for agricultural entrepreneurship (or agripreneurship) is the visible way. The purpose of
this is to encourage opportunity seeking and value creation in this sector. There is a need to train current
farmers to become more entrepreneurial and to educate future generations to become agricultural
entrepreneurs.
In fact, this is the answer to significantly reduce rural poverty, and provide agricultural potential
not only to feed oneself but also to produce excess that can contribute to food security in the country.

Summary

    According to the author, to support agricultural entrepreneurship education in the Philippines, the
government needs to work with private investors and socio-civic organizations. Family Farm School,
SAKA Program, Farm Business Schools and Social Enterprise Model are non-profit organizations
and businesses that offer programs to train farmers to become entrepreneurs in agribusiness enterprises.
Also helps educate children

living in rural areas who cannot afford education to improve their knowledge for a better quality of life. 
 Villazorda, Belly Joy (2019), said that Family Farm School is an innovative method for training
youth, serving as an instrument for community development. Also, it is a tool in alleviating the poverty of
the community engaged in farming as their means of livelihood and source of income. I agree with what
the author said, that this is the modern training method and instrument for the development of our
community. Because it has been tested in various countries Today, there are more than 2,000 such schools
in 45 countries in Europe, North America, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
And to this day it still continues to help with community development.
The author will also indicate that FFS has a teaching system where one week is for school study
and the other week or two will be spent farming in their home to help their parents in agriculture. In this
way, students learn in schools with academics taught and at the same time get used to learning how to do
farming. Also, they can now earn a living while studying. An example of this is the FFS in Dagatan,
Philippines where they rely on donations to raise funds for their school.
In the journal, the author also states the Rural FARM SCHOOL LAW (RA 10618), a law that
mandates to have at least 1 Family Farm School (FFS) per province and government agencies are
mandated to support the school. 

Sanayan sa Kakayahang Agrikultura (SAKA) is a project program of Pilipinas Shell Foundation

Inc. (PSFI) that helps young people that are unable to pursue higher education to transition into
agripreneurship. According to the author, this program supports agricultural education by spending 70
percent of time studying and the graduates will earn a certificate in farm management. The journal also
provides examples of graduates of PSFI's SAKA program and success in the field of agricultural
entrepreneurship. The Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. has created a program that will help our society and
this has been their solid foundation to stay in development and contribute to our country’s economy.

Farm Business School (FBS) is over an eight to ten-month production-marketing cycle, consisting
of a series of farmer group-based experiential learning sessions with experienced facilitators. Farmers'
cooperatives perform market analyses and take the lead on product creation to capitalize on market
prospects. Other stakeholders, such as traders and service providers, interact with participants.
Participants start or strengthen small businesses and enterprises as a practical result of FBS.
According to CGIAR, through marketing, enterprise, and pre-and post-harvest technology, the
farmer business school (FBS) aims to develop viable pro-poor farm companies. In order to provide long-
term improvements to the livelihoods of targeted households, the FBS also aims to empower men and
women farmers, improve trust, and collaborate between farmers and other value chain actors. For a
greater impact, the FBS should be integrated into a larger development effort, as it is now with IFAD
investments in Asia through collaborations with key national agencies.

Gawad Kalinga's Social Enterprise Model differs from the first three in that the nonprofit
organization focuses on recent graduates from prestigious Manila schools and encourages them to engage
in entrepreneurial activities on the group's 34-hectare farm, known as the farm village university. Because
graduates from prominent schools are likely to come from well-to-do families, they generally have the
means to start businesses quickly. The young entrepreneurs work within the existing farm community and
help improve the income stream of the community. Through persistent observation and shared activities,
the community workers learn from the entrepreneurs how to account for their time and resources, how to
care for the quality of the produce, and how to deal with buyers. Because graduates of prestigious schools
are more likely to come from well-off families, they are more likely to be able to launch firms fast. The
young entrepreneurs work inside the current farm community, assisting in the improvement of the
community's economic stream. The community workers learn from the entrepreneurs how to account for
their time and resources, how to care for the quality of the produce, and how to deal with buyers through
constant observation and shared activities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The strength/usefulness of the journal is a strong point in the development of reference to the
article of an agricultural journal. This is a major category for the economic problem in agriculture of our
country which aims to assist the audience in finding the article that is precisely related to the interest of
farmers to lift their livelihood out of poverty.
The weaknesses in this journal focus only on community development related to farming. The
author has not explicitly stated the government’s assistance to the current private investors who are
helping our fellow farmers. And there is limited research information on Google Scholar.

Conclusion
The Philippines has become a net importer of agricultural goods even if it is a predominantly
agriculture-based economy. Part of the problem is a perceived lack of desire to work the land, owing to
the fact that farming is not seen as attractive or worthwhile. Previous agricultural education methods
concentrated solely on technical aspects of the industry. It is necessary to invest not only in agriculture
education but also in agricultural entrepreneurial education in order to increase interest in agriculture. This
journal examines different approaches to combining agriculture and entrepreneurship, based on small
pockets of non-government engagement in the Philippines. These are the FFS program which is designed
for young farmers' children who participate in classroom activities and assist their parents on their farms
at predetermined times and the FBS approach, which involves alternate classroom field sessions and
training on farms managed by successful agri-preneurs, is for older out of school youngsters. Also  Even
older persons can benefit from the SAKA model, which allows them to get an associate or bachelor's
degree in Agri-preneurship and thus be better prepared to start agricultural businesses. There's also the

Social Enterprise Model, which is aimed at young graduates in the rural village university who can
finance entrepreneurial firms. We believe that investing in agricultural entrepreneurship is one solution to
the poverty gap that occurs in agriculture-based communities with a high proportion of impoverished
Filipinos. Farmers must learn to be risk managers and innovators. Because they need to be more market-
oriented and focused on adding value to products rather than merely farming and selling their goods at
farm-gate rates, they need to be more market-oriented and focused on adding value to produce. This is
where education, not only for existing farmers but also for future agri-preneurs, comes into play.
Furthermore, Poverty remains a rural problem in the Philippines. While the government has a genuine
desire to educate the rural poor and help them become self-sufficient, the resources required for such a
program are lacking. As a result, the involvement of civil service organizations and the business sector is
a huge step forward in this direction. There are numerous approaches to consider, none of which are
mutually incompatible. What is obvious is that the purpose is to increase the agricultural poor's
productivity by providing them with business skills and financial resources. Finally, the numerous models
given were developed at different times by the private sector. The FFS model has taken far longer than the
GK model to gain traction. Despite this, all four models appear to be convergent. Researchers could find it
fascinating to chart the growth of each of these models and assess their influence. As a result, the FFS
models can also be compared to counterparts in France and Spain, where the program began, as well as
other nations, with the proviso that the country's agriculture sector has far more limits and obstacles than
those of more industrialized countries. Specific enabling and discouraging elements might be identified
during the process.

Recommendation and Strategies:

1. The government must assist and support these current private investors who are helping our fellow
farmers.   
2. The government must produce new technology equipment to facilitate the farming of our farmers
and help them financially. 
3. Must stop the rural micro-credit schemes. Give proper credit to farmers who want to use them for
farming and provide adequate risk coverage (weather insurance, etc.)
4. Establish a strong marketing structure for agricultural produce and introduce proper storage
facilities so that the farmers are not forced to make distress sale of their produce.

References
https://ati.da.gov.ph/ati-9/authors/belly-joy-villazorda
https://business.inquirer.net/104619/celebrating-75-years-of-family-farm-schools
https://www.rtb.cgiar.org/farmer-business-schools
http://www.fao.org/3/i2137e/i2137e00.htm