The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and APPGeese, Inc., a start-up company based in Pasig, have partnered to develop a pilot digital agriculture platform in the Philippine provinces of Laguna and Quezon.

APPGeese Executive Founder Raymund D. Austria said “I thought about the COVID-19 pandemic which made me realize that the food sector is really vulnerable. We looked for partners through social media and found SEARCA.”

The project is being undertaking by SEARCA through its Emerging Innovation for Growth (EIG) Program, which is powered by an “InnovEIGhts” model of open collaboration that will be launched on October 14.

SEARCA EIG program lead Dr. Rico C. Ancog affirmed that “SEARCA would like to build a culture of open collaboration and we want to make sure that we have a cadre of individuals that are really empowered and have a brilliant entrepreneurial and technical mind. We want these people to harness emerging innovations for growth and resilience of farming communities and agriculture systems.”

SEARCA will identify the pilot sites and introduce the project to the communities and local government in the areas selected. The Center will also recommend best practices for storage and packaging of agricultural products for shipping to preserve their quality from farm to fork.

APPGeese will design, develop, build, operate, deliver, and continuously improve the information technology infrastructure and systems for the implementation of two base farm clusters. 

Meanwhile, SEARCA will provide insights for the data modelling for artificial intelligence/machine learning as inputs to the digital platform.

Mr. Austria explained that the design and implementation model of the pilot digital agriculture platform features AgriEx, a virtual exchange for agricultural production.

He said APPGeese will also provide free access to the digital agriculture exchange platform website to the farming beneficiaries and to SEARCA.

Emphasizing the importance of digital agriculture to modern agriculture ecology or  Agriculture 4.0 among farmers, SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said “the reality of digitalizing agriculture is won or lost at the farmer level, where applicability and sustainability have to be further tested. We will prove that digital agriculture is not just an abstract idea but is already a reality.”