Ag Tech Investments News

DAVAO CITY – Internet-based marketing and blockchain technology will take centerstage during the Agribusiness Innovation Conference at the 2018 Davao Agri-Trade Expo slated on September 21 in this city.

The internet-based marketing and blockchain technology are currently being eyed in financing agribusiness ventures and draw young people into the agriculture industry, Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCII) member John Tria said on Monday.

Tria, who is the DATE 2018 chairperson, said DCCCII invited Ann Cuisia, chief executive officer of Traxion--a transaction management firm specializing in blockchain technology--to talk about the technology's potentials for the agribusiness sector.

Tria said blockchain is a platform that encourages investment from people who do not have large capital to invest in the traditional financial markets. He believes the technology will encourage investors to pool their financial resources and help fund agricultural investments.

The young generation, he said, also want to engage in agriculture-related industries using new trends.

“Young people are very savvy with the technology they easily understand and I think this is the hope that we are seeing over the last two years. The more young people are involved in agriculture and agribusiness the future of agriculture is going to be much brighter,” he told reporters.

Traxion--in collaboration with UnionBank, TechUp Agri and GeiserMaclang--has just wrapped up a two-day TechUp Pilipinas Agri-Summit, which highlights Hackathon, which held on August 25 -26 at the Azuela Cove here.

Traxion and partners are targeting the young generation to adopt technology to boost the country's agriculture and reverse the current negative trends in the industry, Cuisia said.

Cuisia said more and more fintech and blockchain companies are coming to Mindanao to develop use-cases and test scalability.

She noted that farmers, fisherfolk and sari-sari store owners are among the financially-excluded sectors that lack efficient ways to conduct transactions online. Currently, she said these sectors rely on traditional payment methods.

“This is totally a paradigm shift because the database right now in your phone it belongs to you or in your laptop and the owners have the authority to delete or edit what they like,” Cuisia stressed.

Currently, Traxion is engaged with banana plantation farmers in Bukidnon and one in Palawan. It is also talking with farmers’ cooperatives in Mindanao to draw more partners.

Aside from Blockchain technology, DCCCII is also looking at the technological practices of Israel, Taiwan, and New Zealand to boost agricultural production.

DCCCII president Arturo Milan said exhibitors from the three countries have been invited to display their farm equipment and introduce their technologies during the 2018 DATE.

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph