The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) introduced numerous technology-based platforms using marketing and data analysis to help expand livelihood options and boost earnings of regional smallholder farmers and micro, small, and medium companies (MSMEs)
Agriculture is considered the foundation of the Philippine economy and is vital to boosting the national economy. However, devastating natural calamities, a lack of fully automated equipment, and several other obstacles have had a major impact on famers’ income. This is the very reason why Farm Konek was created. This is a farm management tool that mainly focuses on community impact through the production of high-value and lowland vegetables. Its primary initiatives include building, inventory management, and reporting systems.
DOST also went on to launch another e-commerce platform called OneStore.ph that assisted MSMEs in marketing their products online. The platform enabled MSMEs to reach a larger audience, thereby indirectly increasing employment and addressing the issue of food insecurity in the nation. The coming of the epidemic hampered people’s travel freedom and resulted in a large number of people using the e-commerce platform. Hence, DOST made use of this opportunity to introduce OneStore City, an android delivery software that was designed to give customers a better and easier shopping experience.
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) also created a four-in-one rice combine harvester to address these urgent issues that would reduce the post-harvest losses of Filipino farmers from 4.5% to 2.2%. This locally made harvester made best use of hand tractors and was capable of supporting the nation’s effort to achieve food security by addressing the shortage of agricultural manpower, thus providing farmers with higher incomes, increased productivity, and much more.
