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

Industry leaders and professionals gathered to attend Makati Business Club’s forum, "Smart Agri: Driving Farm Productivity through Data and Technology." Co-presented by True Digital, it which aimed 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.

True Digital’s chief business officer and chief international office,r Marco Guida, discussed ways in creating a more sustainable environment for farmers and fisherfolk through digital transformation. He emphasized the importance of acquiring the hardware, employing professionals with the knowledge to operate and interpret the analytics, and receiving the financial support of a senior stakeholder.

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

Also present were Dennis Franco M. Layug, the director of the Department of Agriculture Information and Communications Technology Service, and Cropin’s chief marketing officer Sujit Janardanan. Both 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.

Guida’s advice was to “Launch fast, fail fast, move fast, iterate. 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 who 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.”