Philippines Agricultural Technology
The Philippines is an archipelagic country comprising more than 7,100 islands and home to over 115 million Filipinos. In 2022, the agricultural sector accounted for 9.5 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 20 percent of the country’s employment. However, this sector is heavily reliant on traditional methods of production and small-scale farming.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos serves concurrently as the agriculture secretary to address the country’s food insecurity problems and to lead the Philippines as a global agricultural resource hub. To achieve this, the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) laid out the “One DA Reform
Agenda: Eighteen (18) Key Strategies” that aim to pursue an inclusive approach to transform the Philippine agricultural industry through modernization and industrialization to improve efficiency and increase agricultural productivity.
U.S. exporters specializing in Agricultural Technology or AgTech may find opportunities under the modernization pillar. The Philippine government is pushing more commercial activity in irrigation and water resource management, post-harvest facilities, cold chain facilities, big data analysis, digital and precision agriculture, seed, and crop protection solutions, automated post-harvest facilities, accurate weather forecasting, drone technology, crop protection, and renewable energy sources, among others.
Since 2014, the Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM) has provided farmers access to accurate weather data utilizing satellite imagery and other technologies to generate information for better land utilization and reducing crop losses. This presents an opportunity for U.S. exporters to assist Filipino farmers and related businesses in increasing their agricultural efficiency and productivity. Technology to assist in developing, analyzing, and interpreting data to provide real-time, accurate data for Filipino farmers and related businesses to improve their business decision process and properly allocate resources.
Another opportunity is precision agriculture technologies that can help efficiently reduce water use and harmful chemicals to improve crop yields and reduce crop losses. This can be aided by precision agriculture or digital agriculture technology using sensors and other devices to monitor soil conditions, water levels, and crop growth. It is evident in the launching of the Precision and Digital Agriculture Center (PreDiC), the first of its kind in the country that hosts facilities and technologies such as spatial variability for soils, a greenhouse, field monitoring systems, irrigation canals, farm machines, microclimate monitoring equipment, and fabrication tools.
The U.S. Commercial Service can assist you in identifying opportunities and qualified partners in the Philippine AgTech sector. The U.S. Commercial Service Manila is recruiting interested and qualified U.S. AgTech exporters and service providers for a trade mission to Davao City and Manila in late September 2023. Limited slots are available.
For more information, please contact Commercial Specialist Katrina Domingo at Katrina.Domingo@trade.gov.