A young farmer’s journey to smarter agribusiness

ILOILO, Philippines (ILO News) - Despite the trend of young people being less interested in farming and agriculture, Maria Joyce Escosa has successfully grown her organic farm. At 24, she stands out as a young, tech-savvy farmer who embraces innovation in her hometown of Igbaras, where farming is deeply rooted in tradition.

She has built a thriving agribusiness, growing and selling organic vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, chilies, and okra while also retailing crops from fellow farmers. She also sells home gardening kits to encourage more people to grow their own food—a movement for sustainable farming that she promotes on social media as well.

While she earns a decent income from her agribusiness, Joyce wanted to continue improving her entrepreneurial skills. To learn how to use digital tools in managing her business, she took part in training activities offered by the International Labour Organization (ILO).  

Joyce’s first step towards digitizing her business operations focused on record-keeping. Through the two-day Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training organized by the ILO as part of the Bringing Back Jobs Safely Project, she and other farmers and small business owners were introduced to free digital tools that could simplify business operations.  

For Joyce, record-keeping had always been a challenge, but after the training, she had a clear system to monitor cash flow and business expenses. With this improvement, she now avoids unnecessary losses, allowing her business to grow sustainably.

Following this success, Joyce wanted to further modernize her farming business. Earlier this year, she attended a training session on using artificial intelligence (AI) in managing and expanding micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).  

An initiative of the ILO under the United Nations Joint Programme for an Inclusive, Competitive and Responsible Digital Philippines (Digital-PINAS), the training taught small business owners like Joyce on how to use AI tools to optimize their businesses.  

The Digital-PINAS programme, which is jointly implemented by the ILO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) with the support of the Joint SDG Fund, aims to boost the competitiveness of MSMEs through improvements to digital connectivity in remote regions and skills training for entrepreneurs like Joyce.

With the knowledge gained from the training on AI-powered tools, Joyce could now analyze her farm’s sales data to identify trends and predict demand, gain insight on inventory management to manage waste, and create digital marketing strategies to increase online engagement and sales.  

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She wasn’t the only one who left the training feeling inspired. Through their online chats to share how they are using AI and other digital tools in their respective businesses, fellow farmers and small business owners from Igbaras have developed concrete action plans to apply their learnings.

Some even plan to introduce digital bookkeeping to track expenses more efficiently, while others are exploring AI-powered market analysis to identify the best crops to plant based on demand trends.

Several trainees aim to expand their businesses through online selling and digital marketing, recognizing that technology can help them reach a wider customer base beyond their local community.  

The future: Scaling up with digital innovation

Joyce’s entrepreneurial mindset doesn’t stop with farming. As an active user of social media for selling, she understands the power of digital marketing and sees it as the next step in expanding her business. With AI-assisted strategies, she is now more confident in scaling her agribusiness to reach a wider market.

"My business is growing, and I know the training from the ILO helped a lot in terms of avoiding business losses and making smarter decisions," Joyce proudly shares.

With her passion, business savvy, and commitment to learning, she represents the new generation of Filipino farmers—one that blends tradition with innovation to create a sustainable and profitable future in agriculture.