As part of the bid to bridge the digital divide and empower farmers, leading telco PLDT and Smart, along with the Department of Agriculture’s training arm DA-ATI, on Thursday launched the FarmTech program.
This tech-driven training kit informs farmer groups and cooperatives in their members on the benefits of technology in agriculture.
Receiving the very first FarmTech packages were the affiliate farm groups Myriad Farms of Guimba, Nueva Ecija, and Samahan ng mga Pangulo ng Magsasaka of Morong, Rizal.
Each package includes a tablet, 10 smartphones, a Smart Bro Pocket Wifi with Smart Prepaid load cards, an outdoor projector and projector screen, a rechargeable portable sound system, a flash drive containing multimedia learning resources and apps, and DA-ATI learning materials.
“There are a lot of apps and digital solutions we can tap and integrate into the DFP. With the help of PLDT and Smart, these can now reach the farthest corners of the Philippines,” said DA-ATI director Remelyn R. Recoter. She is confident FarmTech would play a key role in encouraging farmers to use technology in their livelihood.
Enabling the digitalization of farmers is PLDT and Smart’s integrated fixed and wireless networks across the country.
“We at PLDT and Smart continue to invest in our infrastructure to provide meaningful connections to Filipinos across the country, furthering our livelihood and digital inclusion advocacies, especially for the agricultural sector,” said Stephanie V. Orlino, AVP and head of Stakeholder Management at PLDT and Smart.
“Hand-in-hand with our partners from DA-ATI, we hope to achieve our vision, which is to enable the digital transformation of farmer groups and agri coops all over the country, to build a truly digitally-enabled agriculture sector,” she added.
Part of PLDT and Smart’s long-standing partnership with DA-ATI, FarmTech is the latest addition to DFP established by the PLDT Group and DA-ATI in 2019 to make technology and digital solutions more accessible to Filipino farmers.
