ICOPED, UP CIDS Convene Laguna Agritourism Workshop to Chart Inclusive Path for Local Producers

​The Institute of Cooperatives and Bio-Enterprise Development of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, together with the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, convened a one-day Multistakeholder Consultation Workshop at Ylaya, Santa Elena Integrated Farm, San Pablo City, Laguna, on 17 July 2026. 

Organized and led by Assistant Professor Maria Theresa M. Castro under the project "Agritourism Value Chain and Food Security: Integrating Small-to-Medium Scale Producers in Laguna and Bohol, Philippines," the gathering surfaced opportunities and challenges across the agritourism sector of Laguna and charted a more inclusive path forward for local producers.
A total of 27 participants from 16 institutions attended the workshop. Regional and provincial government offices were represented through the Department of Tourism, the Department of Agriculture (including its Agricultural Training Institute and the Bureau of Plant Industry), and the Department of Trade and Industry. 

The private-sector contingent included the Laguna Chamber of Commerce along with the agritourism enterprises Costales Nature Farms, Sarate Agricultural Farm, and Ylaya at Santa Elena Integrated Farm. Farmer associations, cooperatives, and unions were also present, with delegates from the Samahan ng Organikong Industriya ng Laguna, the Laguna Cacao Farmers Association, the Rosario Livestock and Agriculture Farming Cooperative, and the New Nagcarlan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (representing the Cooperative Union of Laguna). 

Learning-site farmers joined the conversation through representatives from the Adoress Farm Training and Assessment Center, Incorporated and the Masaganang Bukid Agricultural Learning Center. Rounding out the multistakeholder assembly were representatives from academe and research, specifically Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture and the UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science.

Looking ahead, the insights gathered from the San Pablo workshop are being consolidated into evidence-based recommendations and mechanisms for promoting inclusive and sustainable agritourism development in Laguna, Bohol, and other Philippine provinces. A similar multistakeholder consultation is scheduled in Bohol in late July 2026, bringing the same project framework to a second host province.

#farmtourism #farmexperience #supplychain #valuechainmap #foodsecurity

 MTMCastro and MKCSAbriam