School and home cacao learning sites: Promoting community empowerment through cacao-based education, nutrition, and enterprise development
Paper Details
School and home cacao learning sites: Promoting community empowerment through cacao-based education, nutrition, and enterprise development
Abstract
Community-based interventions that integrate agricultural education, nutrition, and livelihood development are essential for improving rural well-being and promoting sustainable development. This study evaluated the implementation of the School + Home Cacao (S+HC) Learning Sites in Lasam, Cagayan, Philippines, as a participatory model for strengthening community empowerment through cacao-based education, nutrition, and enterprise development. A community-based participatory action research (PAR) design was employed involving Cagayan State University, the Department of Education, local government units, teachers, parents, pupils, and community stakeholders. Baseline assessments, structured questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and participatory consultations were used to assess participants’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes, while descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were applied to evaluate project outcomes. The project established two school-based cacao learning sites and distributed 400 cacao seedlings, comprising 160 (40.0%) at IBJ Elementary School, 150 (37.5%) at Magsaysay Elementary School, and 90 (22.5%) in parents’ home backyards. A total of 57 parents and 30 schoolchildren participated in literacy, nutrition, and cacao-processing activities. Capacity-building programs enhanced participants’ knowledge and practical skills in cacao production and value addition, while locally developed cacao-based products promoted nutrition awareness and entrepreneurship. The project also produced two international publications, four utility models, two developed cacao products, trained 57 beneficiaries, and achieved 100% accomplishment for its planned outputs. Reported outcomes included a 25% increase in access to education, a 20% increase in agricultural literacy, and a 10% improvement in indicators of sustainable community development. The School + Home Cacao Learning Sites demonstrated that integrating education, nutrition, and value-added cacao enterprise through participatory community engagement is an effective and replicable approach for enhancing agricultural literacy, livelihoods, food security, and sustainable rural development.
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Bernard P. Madarang*, John Carlo Banan, Jehan U. Gerardo, Perla R. Bautista, Jackielyn Garcia, Ronel T. Pacubat, Wilfredo M. Perciano, Rocky Casilana, 2026. School and home cacao learning sites: Promoting community empowerment through cacao-based education, nutrition, and enterprise development. Int. J. Biosci., 28(5), 171-185.
Copyright © 2026 by the Authors. This article is an open access article and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.