Mr. David Chen, chief executive officer of AgriG8, and his colleagues visit SEARCA
Mr. David Chen, chief executive officer of AgriG8, visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on 20 October 2023. With him were Mr. Joshua Tan, chief operating officer; Dr. Vanessa Teo, chief technology officer; and Ms. Qian Yu Ho, project manager.
AgriG8 was part of SEARCA and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)'s Roundtable Discussion (RTD) Series on Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems in Southeast Asia held in April 2023. Mr. Chen served as a panelist in the sessions on digital economies for the food and agriculture sector and promoting carbon farming in agriculture in Southeast Asia through regional cooperation.
Dr. Gregorio highlights the importance of youth engagement in agriculture.During the meeting, Mr. Chen provided updates on their initiatives since the RTD. He shared AgriG8's collaboration with financial institutions to create green financial products that can help solve rice farmers' habit of loaning from multiple sources and provide them access to affordable climate finance to help them reduce their carbon emissions. However, he highlighted that farmers are more likely to adopt carbon farming practices if they are incentivized.
In addition, Mr. Chen underscored the challenge of collecting data on farming practices as the farmers are not digital tool savvy and mainly use their phones for entertainment. "The farmers are used to storing information in their minds," SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn Gregorio responded. "But they have children who know how to use mobile phones and can assist them," he added.
Mr. Chen presents CropPal, a gamified approach to collecting farm data.Dr. Gregorio emphasized the importance of youth engagement in agriculture. Echoing this sentiment, Mr. Chen presented CropPal, a gamified approach to collecting farm data. CropPal is an application that farmers or their children can use to record and optimize farm activities. They can also use it to track the cost and productivity during planting seasons. "The kids might not want to return to the rice fields, but it doesn't mean they cannot be involved [in agriculture]. They can always help their parents." Mr. Chen said. He offered to share the demo code so the SEARCA team could try the application.
Atty. Eric Reynoso, program head, Emerging Innovation for Growth, shared that extension workers and private institutions have introduced several digital agriculture tools to farmers. However, the adoption and acceptability of these tools are not guaranteed.
Atty. Reynoso discussed the importance of training farmers to utilize these digital tools effectively and informed AgriG8 of SEARCA's capacity-building activity on carbon measurement monitoring, reporting, and verification systems in November 2023. He said that the first part of the training will include an overview of carbon wise farming systems and the Center's carbon farming and carbon footprint initiatives. Meanwhile, the second part will consist of hands-on exercises on familiarizing and using the Carbon Wise Rice Information Management System. Moreover, he shared that feedback will be gathered regarding the information management system's usability, design, and functionality.
The AgriG8 team tours the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING).To cap the visit, the delegation was given a tour of the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING).
They were welcomed by Dr. Gregorio; Dr. Maria Cristeta Cuaresma, senior program head, Education and Collective Learning; Atty. Reynoso; Ms. Sharon Malaiba, unit head, Partnerships; Ms. Lichelle Carlos and Ms. Darlyn Angeles, both program specialists, Emerging Innovation for Growth; Mr. Jerome Cayton Barradas, Project Coordinator II, Research and Thought Leadership; and Partnerships Unit staff.