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A Planning Perspective on the Socio-entrepreneurial Venture of Rural Farming Communities through the Community-supported Agriculture


Small-scale farmers in rural farming communities are continually struggling with food insecurity and widespread poverty. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that approximately half of the hungry people globally settle and cultivate their own lands in smallholder farming communities, while a fifth are landless and rely on farming. Many rural farmers are eking a living out of subsistence farming. However, small-scale farming persists as a prime source of livelihood in rural areas despite the severe challenges of prolonged periods of drought and climate-induced hazards such as floods and flash floods, rain-induced landslides, and typhoons, among others. Rural farmers are also confronted with limited livelihood sources. This contributed to increased risk of hunger and emergence of economic shocks such as the unanticipated decline in crop productivity, continuous increase in the prices of production inputs, switch in consumer demand, and stringent market legal requirements. The paper provides a planning perspective on a potential entrepreneurial venture for small-scale rural farmers through a social enterprise modality called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA highlights a trust-based sharing of responsibilities and risks between farmers and community members. The latter selflessly commit time and resources to engage and be physically involved in organic farming. CSA is a business model that can be adopted for local economic development planning to transform rural farmers into conscientious and passionate farmer-entrepreneurs who steer their farms as social enterprises in a complex and dynamic rural environment amidst climate change.


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