Philippines Starting to Harness Digital Technology for Agriculture

Since the dawn of the internet age, countries have been tapping into the power of digital technology to improve their agriculture sector. In the Philippines, this movement to harness this potential has finally started to gain ground.

Mr. Henry Aguda, Chief Technology and Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer of UnionBank, said that the use of the internet and mobile applications are already being widely used by different players in the agriculture industry.

Mr. Henry Aguda was one of the dignitaries during the TechUp Pilipinas Agri Summit – a press conference held last August 25 in Davao City.

“We are excited now as there is a new set of digital technology that allows us to address problems,” said Aguda.

This new set of technology is said to improve agricultural productivity up to 300 times more.

Moreover, Blockchain Technology can be used in tracking produce from farm to table, as it allows the tracking from source of the produce to where it was served.

Local agri-tech initiatives

The Department of Agriculture (DA) already included in their roadmap the integration of these new technology for the agricultural sector, said Clint Hassan, DA’s Director for Information and Communications Technology Service.

Hassan explains that they have an allocated budget for around 20 information technology (IT) initiatives laid out for 2018 to 2020.

Which have already been presented to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

He believes that the IT sector can contribute in increasing the food yield for the country.

The Summit also provided a venue for a staging of a hackathon in a bid to tap into the potentials of the youth in helping improve the agricultural sector.

This two-day initiative aimed to challenge developers to identify problems and find tech-based solutions for the agriculture industry.

“We are amazed by the creativity, collective intelligence, and ability of the youth to innovate…they bring with them a desire to make a difference,” said Michelle Rubio, Human Resources Director of UnionBank.

This summit is part of TechUp Pilipinas’s series of events, which include conferences, hackathons, and pitchests in Davao, Iloilo, and Manila, which will lead up to the ASEAN Agri Summit in October 2018.

via Sun Star / Reuel John F. Liwanag