True Digital and Makati Business Club talk about transforming agriculture through tech

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — On September 13 at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati, industry leaders and professionals gathered to attend Makati Business Club’s forum on Smart Agri: Driving Farm Productivity through Data and Technology, co-presented by True Digital, a topic which aims to lend support to the local agricultural sector.

The discussion was opened by Ayala Corporation chairman, Jaime Augusto Zobel De Ayala, who talked about the need to properly harness technology, produce nutritious food, and limit wastage.

The keynote speech was given by True Digital’s Chief Business Officer and Chief International Officer Marco Guida, who discussed ways in creating a more sustainable environment for farmers and fisherfolk through digital transformation. He emphasized the importance of acquiring the hardware, employing the professionals with the knowledge to operate and interpret the analytics, and receiving the financial support of a senior stakeholder.

Our guest panelists included Dennis Franco M. Layug, the Director of the Department of Agriculture Information and Communications Technology Service, and Cropin’s Chief Marketing Officer Sujit Janardanan, who shared their perspective on the challenges of moving from traditional practices into new ways of doing things.

Key takeaways from the day’s discussion include employing the tools and professionals to accelerate growth in the Philippine agricultural industry, merging traditional and next-gen techniques, strengthening the partnership between the private sector and the Department of Agriculture, and having the resolve to enact change by taking the first step and making something happen.

Marco’s advice is to, “Launch fast, fail fast, move fast, iterate.” And further explained, “There needs to be a certain level of talk-talk-push because the people [who] implement the solution must not be afraid to fail. If not, the fear will paralyze [the user] and they will go back to what they know and the solution will not be implemented.”

He continued, “Have a senior stakeholder who will say, ‘It is okay, you can try. If you succeed, great! If you don’t, we’ll learn and do something else.”

About True Digital Philippines

True Digital Philippines provides support for True Digital Group’s services such as O2O rewards, Enterprise business solutions, data analytics and digital lifestyle entertainment. True Digital Philippines mirrors True Digital Group’s goal to build lasting consumer, enterprise and creator connections online and offline. With this, we commit ourselves to raise the Filipino pride on an international scale and level up digitally with the rest of the world.

About True Digital Solutions:

True Digital Solutions is a business unit under True Digital Group and serves as an innovation partner for enterprises, offering market-leading solutions to solve pain points and anticipate future needs. Equipped with a diverse and complete ecosystem, it champions transformative innovation brought through its expertise in digital convergence and deep insight across industries. Working collaboratively with its world-class partners, it aims to drive positive change and catalyze sustainable impact for individuals, businesses, and societies.

Our Agricultural Solutions:

Cropin: Offers Crop field intelligence through AI, satellite and drone technology

Calyx: Monitors the environment 24/7 through a phage-based bio-sensor solution

Fasal: Gives farm level crop-specific and crop stage-specific actionable intelligence through a grounded multi sensor device

Birdoo: Provides 24/7 eyes tracking for poultry farm management using computer vision

and AI

Contact

For more information, please visit truedigital.ph or message us at solutions.ph@truedigital.com.