Tech touted as solution to ageing-farmer crisis, but farms can’t thrive without reforms

By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter

DENNIS IVAN CHAVEZ, a 25-year-old computer engineering graduate from Mindanao State University’s Iligan Institute of Technology, didn’t know he would one day co-found FrescoGreenovations, an agriculture-based startup that provides automation services for farms and gardens.

“I come from a family of Igorot farmers and traders, but as time went on, they slowly moved away from farming and pursued other careers,” he told BusinessWorld.

When the pandemic hit, the online gaming and tech enthusiast had a chance to try other things that he said weren’t taught in his university subjects, one of which was hydroponics.

“The harvest gave me a lot of dopamine. I turned to my high school classmates who took up agriculture and got them onboard We supplied a few food businesses and households,” he said.

FrescoGreenovations in January registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, over two years after it was chosen to be part of a Department of Agriculture (DA) program for aspiring farmers.

“We pivoted to becoming an agritech startup after we received the funds. It was a rollercoaster of events after that, a lot of ups and downs,” according to Mr. Chavez, who was 21 years old when he and his teammates received a grant of P100,000 from the government.

The startup, now run by seven people including licensed agriculturists and computer engineers, is currently working with a private school that seeks to build a campus-based greenhouse farm equipped with sensors, actuators, and other farm management systems.

“The growing global interest in farming, with its related impact on food security, climate change, population growth, and technological innovation, shifts the concept from traditional labor-intensive practices to agritech entrepreneurship,” Science and Technology Secretary Renato U. Solidum told BusinessWorld.

“This gives young Filipinos the opportunity to engage in farming innovations, build startups, and earn more competitively,” he said, noting that artificial intelligence (AI)-driven decision tools, drones, sensors, and satellite data are helping attract young people to farming.

“Even during the pandemic, there was explosive interest in urban and vertical farming,” he said.

In his fourth address to Congress, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. urged the young to consider agriculture-related careers, citing state support for agrarian reform beneficiaries, including the distribution of land titles.

“Agriculture courses, programs, and scholarships are awaiting the youth, so that agriculture will be their source of livelihood in the future, and they can continue this honorable livelihood of their parents,” he said.

While the Philippines is making important strides in integrating climate-smart agriculture in the education system, with universities like the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños and Tarlac Agricultural University offering specialized courses on sustainable agriculture and agri technology, “much more needs to be done to reframe agriculture as a modern, tech-driven sector — not a fallback career,” Manila Business Club (MBC) Executive Director Rafael ASG Ongpin said in an interview.

He said embedding agriculture and sustainability concepts into the K-12 curriculum, coupled with training teachers, is essential to cultivate a generation open to the opportunities and challenges of climate-smart agriculture.

“It is also critical for educational institutions to partner with private sector innovators who can offer internships and hands-on experience,” he added.

“Otherwise, we’ll continue losing young talent to urban jobs. The goal is to make farming attractive, viable, and future-ready.”

The average age of Filipino rice farmers is 56 and climbing. Government data indicate that agriculture and forestry lost almost 950,000 jobs in February mainly due to typhoons that devastated farmland.

Citing the Food and Agriculture Organization, a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) report by economist Roehlano M. Briones published in December 2021 estimated the country’s arable land at 12.44 million hectares.

PIDS found declining productivity and structural inefficiencies, with farm sizes shrinking.

The government through the DA and Department of Science and Technology (DoST) has been stepping up efforts to promote climate-smart and precision technologies in agriculture, which recently sustained P3 billion in losses after monsoon rains and three storms hit the country in late July.

For its part, the DoST has been providing farmers with knowledge and tools on pest identification that can help minimize infestations and damage to crops and seed grants to agri-based startups, according to Mr. Solidum.

He noted that its AI-powered decision support system for farmers, known as Project SarAI (Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry) co-developed with UP Los Baños will be rolled out nationwide through its regional offices “very soon,” especially in areas frequently affected by extreme weather.

The project combines remote sensing, crop modeling, and localized weather data to provide timely advisories for farmers and help them decide when to irrigate, plant, or harvest.

“Climate change has made farming more unpredictable and risky, with extreme weather events, shifting rainfall patterns, and soil degradation affecting yields,” Mr. Solidum noted.

He cited the need for tech-driven farming — from smart irrigation systems that conserve water to AI-based weather and crop modeling that helps reduce risk.

“With precision agriculture, farmers can maximize productivity while minimizing inputs, waste, and environmental impact, which are crucial in adapting to a changing climate,” he said.

Among the beneficiaries of the DoST’s programs is agriculture-based startup GreenVisionsPh (formerly Waste4Good), which initially found itself thriving in transforming food waste into fertilizer.

“Over time, as we listened more deeply to farmers, we realized that waste was only one part of a much broader challenge. There was also a glaring gap in farming precision and sustainability,” according to its Chief Executive Officer and Founder Lorilyn P. Daquioag.

She cited the case of a client who, despite generating approximately P70 million annually from a 40-hectare banana farm, had struggled with “alarmingly high” production costs of up to P45.5 million.

With no baseline data, no regular soil tests, and no monitoring systems, the client’s approach had been largely based on guesswork, a situation that reflects the reality in many farms, according to Ms. Daquioag.

“That realization became our turning point. It led us to pivot into what is now GreenVisionsPh, which operates like a “hospital for farms” — bringing diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment directly to the field in real time,” she said.

The startup has an AI-powered, offline-capable device that provides soil and disease assessments in five minutes, helping small-scale banana growers in Mindanao save up to 50% on inputs.

The device is complemented by its AIMS (Agricultural Intelligence & Monitoring System) for real-time data tracking, and microbial treatments that resulted in 25% faster crop growth, 52% higher yields, and up to 93% healing efficiency against Fusarium Wilt TR4 (Panama disease) in trials.

“There’s a growing space for agri-tech startups like GreenVisionsPh, especially now that food security, climate change, and farm sustainability are top concerns,” Ms. Daquioag said, noting that farmers and agri-stakeholders are actively looking for solutions that are science-based, scalable, and grounded in real field experience.

“As a startup, we’re able to move fast, stay close to our users, and build tech that directly responds to what farmers actually need,” she said.

However, Ms. Daquoiag noted challenges for agri-tech startups like limited funding for research and development and fragmented distribution channels.

“Some farmers are also reluctant to try unfamiliar solutions, especially when their livelihood is at stake,” she said.

“On top of that, infrastructure — like poor internet in rural areas — makes digital adoption slower than it should be,” she added.

She said climate change, food insecurity, and rising input costs are forcing the industry to rethink the way it practices farming, opening the door for precision technologies and sustainability-focused tools.

Mr. Chavez, the hydroponic farmer, said the lack of large data banks is hindering AI-driven agriculture startups.

“To have reliable AI, we need big data, large data banks which we do not have. We haven’t even completed our digital transformation,” he said.

“These systems also allow ease of aggregating data. The more data we feed into the system, the better it gets.”

Mr. Ongpin of MBC said the “promise of technology is not enough without market reforms.”

“Farmers must be able to sell at fair prices,” he said, noting that many rice farmers sell palay at just P8–10 per kilo — barely enough to recover costs or break even — while retail rice sells for P35–40.

He cited persistent inefficiencies in the supply chain and unchecked imports that leave farmers with unsold stocks.

“Without fair market access and better infrastructure, no amount of technology will make farming appealing to the youth,” Mr. Ongpin said.

The MBC in 2024 launched an agriculture advocacy program to help raise farmer incomes and lower food prices.

The group currently provides training to farmer cooperatives, focusing on business management and market access.

It also assists in the professionalization of cooperatives and connects them with large businesses.

The MBC said the government should help farmers connect to stable markets, noting that technology adoption only makes sense when there is clear, consistent demand.

“The government must first put in place coherent trade and procurement policies that protect and prioritize local production,” it said. “Only then can efforts to scale climate-smart agriculture succeed.”

It also urged the government to address what it called a “trust gap,” as many farmers don’t benefit from support programs because of unclear targeting, limited transparency, and poor coordination across agencies.

“This undermines confidence in government initiatives and discourages the adoption of new practices and technology,” Mr. Ongpin said.

“Climate-smart agriculture will only succeed if the government lays the groundwork: functional infrastructure, clear and consistent rules, and strong support for farmers — while enabling the private sector to do what it does best: innovate, invest, and build competitive markets.”