ENTRP

• According to the 2021 data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), farmers and fisherfolks remain the poorest in the country
• According to the World Bank, farmers, with a poverty incidence of 30%, almost doubled the national poverty incidence of 18.1%. This is also three times the global poverty incidence of 8.8%
• Poverty incidence


  The number of individuals below the per capita poverty thresholds divided by the total number of individuals
• Farmers, who mostly belong to the bottom 50% earners in the country, only share 14% of the national income
• Top 5 challenges faced by Filipino farmers today

  • Capital
  • Postharvest facility
  • Climate change
  • Market access
  • Innovation
• Farming as a Business (FAAB)


  An extension approach to working with farmer groups during agricultural interventions. It is a form of private-sector development to sustainably increase the profits of low-income, smallholder farmers. It involves technical and institutional capacity building.
• Farmer


  A person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who raise field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry or other livestock or do some combination thereof.
• Entrepreneur


  An individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards.
• Agricultural entrepreneurs


  Those who classify all activities that help farmers to adjust a free market economy as entrepreneurial (Richards and Bulkley, 2007) and who introduces changes which directly or indirectly lead to higher agricultural inputs (Haredero, 1979).
• Reasons for small-scale farming

  • Exclusively for home consumption with rarely any surpluses produced
  • Mostly for home consumption but with the intention of selling surpluses on the market
  • Partly for the market and partly for home consumption
  • Exclusively for the market
• Reasons why farmers need to become agricultural entrepreneurs

  • Decline in the size of the land
  • Growth of urban areas and rapid increase in population
  • General modernization
• Agricultural entrepreneurship (agripreneurship)


  Relates to marketing and producing various agricultural products, as well as agricultural inputs. It provides value addition to agricultural resources typically engaging rural human resources.
• Agricultural inputs


  Products or resources that farmers use in farm products.
• Agripreneur


  An individual who starts, organizes and manages a business venture focusing on the agricultural sector.
• Key skills needed to run an agricultural enterprise

  • Product knowledge to improve customer relations
  • The ability to recognize and help customers
  • Management and leadership skills
  • Ability to solve problems
  • Detail oriented
  • Persuasion capabilities
  • Quantitative analysis
  • Verbal and Writing skills
  • Solid decision-making skills
  • Good Communication skills
• Characteristics of a successful entrepreneur

  • Have the initiative, drive and ability to identify and take advantage of opportunities
  • Single minded, willing to take on ideas and unconventional views
  • Creative leaders, ready to disrupt the status quo
  • Can operate in a zone that takes on ideas that may not be popular with established views and perspectives
  • Always looking for opportunities to improve and expand their businesses
  • Determined to implement their vision and ideas to achieve their goals
  • Thrive on change and cope well with risk and uncertainty
  • Know how to identify and evaluate risks and are willing to take calculated risks, while accepting responsibility for both profits and losses
  • Can organize people, strategies and technologies to fit changing environments
  • Creative problem-solvers, understand the decision-making process and enjoy making decisions
  • Establish strong partnerships and other relationships and work well with other people
  • Innovators who are always looking for better and more profitable ways to do things
  • Honest and trustworthy, but often highly demanding and singularly focused (they are not always good team players)
  • Eager to learn and keep themselves informed about the latest developments and trends in the agricultural environment
• Rural World 1


  Farmers who are globally competitive, embedded in agri-business, commodity producers and processors, politically connected, linked to formal markets and often export-driven.
• Rural World 2

  Locally oriented farmers with access to and control of land, multiple enterprises, who are often undercapitalized and declining in terms of trade.
• Rural World 3

  Farmers known for their fragile livelihoods, limited access to productive resources, multi-occupational migrants straddling rural and urban residencies, unskilled and uneducated and dependent on low-waged, casual family labor.
• Women farmers


  The economic importance of women farmers and their role in increasing household income is often overlooked. Women farmers often experience a unique set of challenges, including the availability of labor, lack of authority and decision making within the family, which impacts on their farming system options.
• Small-scale family farmers


  Characterized by limited resources in terms of land (generally less than two hectares), water and money. These farmers are an aging population, they are often not well educated. There are few smallholder farmers who have the capital, capacity and desire to become agripreneurs. However, smallholder farmers are an important farmer segment as they make up the bulk of farmers in a country.
• Medium-scale farmers


  Key contributors to the production and marketing of major food crops such as cereals and oil seeds. They typically have access to at least 2–10 hectares of land, may have a primary school education and have better access to credit and other resources than small-scale farmers. Because of their higher socioeconomic status in the community, these farmers are often more progressive and may be more easily approached about new business enterprises. These farmers are often in positions of leadership within farmer organizations.
• Commercial farmers


  Large-scale commercial farmers usually have access to resources, such as capital, marketing information, technologies and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools. It is likely that commercial farmers are entrepreneurs and that they pay for specialized services which will include market development, management and financial aspects of entrepreneurship.
• Service providers for agripreneurs


  Businesses, organizations, or individuals that offer a range of services tailored to support agricultural entrepreneurs (agripreneurs) in various aspects of their ventures.
• Services offered by service providers for agripreneurs

  • Consulting and Advisory Services
  • Training and Education
  • Technological Solutions
  • Financial Services
  • Marketing and Distribution Support
  • Research and Development
  • Networking and Collaboration Opportunities
• Agripreneur service providers


  • Agribusiness Consultancies
  • Agricultural Training Institutes
  • AgriTech Companies
  • Financial Institutions
  • Marketing and Distribution Agencies
  • Research Organizations
  • Government Agencies
  • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
  • Trade Associations and Cooperatives
• Agripreneurs


  • Developing innovative technologies, techniques, and solutions to address challenges faced in crop production, livestock farming, and sustainable agriculture
• Government Agencies


  • Departments or ministries of agriculture, rural development, and related agencies that provide support and resources for agripreneurs through subsidy programs, agricultural extension services, regulatory assistance, and market access initiatives
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)


  • Non-profit organizations focused on agricultural development, rural empowerment, and poverty alleviation, offering capacity-building programs, technical assistance, and community-based projects to support agripreneurs, especially smallholder farmers and women in agriculture
• Trade Associations and Cooperatives


  • Industry associations, farmer cooperatives, and producer groups that offer networking opportunities, collective marketing, joint purchasing, and advocacy on behalf of agripreneurs to promote their interests and strengthen their position in the agricultural value chain
• Supply Chain Service Providers


  • Companies involved in logistics, transportation, warehousing, and cold chain management for agricultural products, offering services to streamline the supply chain, reduce post-harvest losses, and ensure timely delivery to markets for agripreneurs
• Agripreneur Workshop


  1. Design training sessions that work with combinations of agro-enterprise agencies, investors, production experts and marketing experts

  2. Service providers can work with different types of agripreneurs on specific aspects of their business models

  3. Topics around key issues such as product development, marketing strategies, bookkeeping, investment management and how to grow the customer base
• Agripreneur Competitions


  1. Agencies can sponsor enterprise competitions

  2. Best business plans are funded to a specific level

  3. Winners enter into training programs that help agripreneurs to plan and launch their businesses

  4. Useful way to identify promising agripreneurs and filter out the business teams who have most promise for growth and continued growth and investment
• Agripreneur Incubators


  1. Capacity building programs that enable providers to identify agripreneurs and work directly with them

  2. Incubators take on different approaches depending on the type of agripreneur being selected for support

  3. Incubator teams can provide specialized assistance in helping to identify new markets, strengthen business models, provide training in key areas of business management, bookkeeping and brokering business relationships
• Agripreneur Mentoring/Coaching Services


  1. Provide occasional support as required to maintain business focus, competitiveness and innovation

  2. Often provided by networks of investors or agripreneurs who have the experience to diagnose weaknesses in existing firms and find ways to work with the business teams to address these issues
• Informal Youth Incubators


  1. Aim to motivate younger farmers to enter the agricultural sector

  2. Attract youth agripreneurs and especially highly skilled youth, into working the land
• Business Basic Courses for the Youth

  1. Short, intensive courses to bring together small teams of youth or individuals and give them a crash course in basic business management

  2. Help clients visualize a business idea and develop a basic business plan

  3. Plans are regularly monitored by business advisors who help the youth teams to develop viable business options and learn essential bookkeeping skills

  4. Complemented with skills training in production, use of improved or more effective technologies, and the basics of how to sell and maintain business relationships

  5. At the end, business plans are presented to an advisory panel who decide on readiness for a loan
• Marketing


  The process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably
• Reputation


  The beliefs or opinions that customers generally hold about a business, its product and services
• Budget


  A financial document that gives the estimated future income, costs, expenses and resources of a business for a particular period, e.g. a year