Community-based enterprise development in the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) villages in San Francisco, Quezon, Philippines

The effect of climate change in the Philippines leads to economic problems, most especially among vulnerable and marginalized sectors of communities. This repercussion prompted the Department of Agriculture to come up with measures that will counter its economic effects. This research project sought to establish a community-based enterprise in the AMIA Villages in San Francisco, Quezon, Philippines. This was carried out through a three-phase community-based participatory action research (CBPAR). The first phase constitutes the needs assessment, which was done using mixed methods—sequential explanatory research to generate an action plan for the succeeding phases. The second phase is the product development and production processes, which were composed of participatory learning trials (PLT), physicochemical and microbial analysis, and packaging. The last phase is the capacity-building and market linkage survey. The needs assessment results revealed that the villagers primarily produce bananas, coconuts, swine, poultry, yam (ube), and rice. Among these, yam (ube) emerged as the leading raw agricultural product with significant potential for product development. Six (6) ube food products were developed: ube nuts polvoron, ube pastillas, ube powder, ube mochi, ube halaya, and ube pocket pie. With these products, only ube powder was subjected to testing, while ube nuts polvoron, ube pastillas, and ube powder were labeled and packaged. The cost of ube powder yields greater profit, as it is priced higher than other products; nonetheless, it is seen with the least market value due to its unknown purpose by the farmers. The beneficiaries were capacitated on ube food production and entrepreneurial development. Lastly, there were eleven (11) cooperatives identified as the potential market linkage of the AMIA Villages. It is recommended that continuous mentoring must be given to the beneficiaries to ensure the sustainability of the enterprise. Forming a start-up cooperative among the AMIA villagers may also be considered good support for their entrepreneurial activities.