MGA ‘new breed’ at ‘young digital agriculture entrepreneurs’ ang isa sa magiging armas ng BBM-Sara UniTeam upang maibangon ang naghihingalong sektor ng agrikultura.

Ayon kina presidential aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. at running-mate Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, labis na nakaaalarma ang ipinalabas na ulat ng Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) na 1.7 percent ang ibinagsak na ‘agriculture production’ noong nakalipas na taon.

“The contraction of our agriculture sector in 2021 is very problematic, and we need to act swiftly to reverse this trend. An initiative that we included in our agriculture blueprint is to encourage the participation of young digital agri-entrepreneurs or agripreneurs to introduce innovative solutions in this sector,” anang UniTeam.

Sa datos ng PSA, ang ‘livestock sector’ ay bumaba ng 17 porsiyento sa taong 2021, pinakamatinding pagbulusok ito paibaba sa nakalipas na 21 taon.

Ang industriya naman ng pagbababoy na tinamaan ng matinding African Swine Flu (ASF) ay bumaba rin ng 20.8 percent.

Bumaba rin ng 0.3 percent ang ‘poultry subsector,’ samantalang ang pangingisda ay tumaas ng 0.1 percent, habang ang pagtatanim naman ay tumaas ng 2.3 percent.

Ang ‘crops subsector’ ay nakapagtala ng 57.1 percent sa kabuuang ‘agriculture growth,’ sinundan ng 15.1 percent sa pangingisda; ang livestock ay may 14.3 percent, at ang poultry ay may 13.4 percent.

Samantala, ang palay production ay may 23 percent ng pananim; sa banana production ay may 8.7 percent; sa pagmamais ay may 6 percent, at sa pagniniyog ay may 5.2 percent.

“The agri sector will need investments from both the public and private sectors to recover. Since we are emerging from a pandemic, sustaining the programs will be a challenge. Partnering with the private sector will help us leverage the skills and experience of Pinoy technology startups to ramp up the digitalization process,” dagdag ng UniTeam.

Sinabi ng UniTeam na ‘planning and supply chain management’ ang isa sa susi sa industriya ng pagtatanim na malaking tulong kung may ‘digitalization’ na hinggil dito dahil malaking katipiran ito at mapapabilis din ang trabahong pang-agrikultura.

Tinitiyak ng UniTeam na magkakaroon ng ‘future-proof digital infrastructure’ ang kanilang administrasyon sakaling manalo sa darating na eleksiyon.

“Digitalization of crop planning and supply chain would help avoid overproduction of certain crops. An improved supply chain would help our farmers avoid rotting of their products while in transit. We recognize that this push towards digitalization will be anchored on a robust infrastructure. We remain committed to achieve that for our people,” pagbibigay-diin pa ng UniTeam.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco