New report on digital change in farming in the Philippines
Finthropology is pleased to launch a new report, Digital Change in Smallholder Farming in the Philippines: Emerging Practices in E-Commerce and Finance.
The report, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), explores the practices emerging from the introduction of e-commerce and digital financial tools in the area of Lucban, southeast of Manila.
Agriculture in Southeast Asia is undergoing digital transformation, affecting the whole society, including smallholder farmers and also creating changes throughout the whole farming value chain, from suppliers to farmers, distributors, retailers and end consumers. But little is known about how farmers react to the introduction of such services, including why some farmers tend to adopt them more quickly than others, the range of functions they use them for, the extent to which such services meet their needs, and their impact on the pre-existing trading system.
To explore these issues, we posed research questions on the adoption of digital tools among smallholder farmers to understand emerging practices, types of usage including combinations of offline and online digital practices. We also asked how digital tools connect with sociocultural practices and what roles communities and other organisations play in the adoption.
The report is based on 23 interviews with smallholder farmers and a few local representatives of farmers’ organisations. We supplemented these with basic data on Philippine agriculture, financial structures and government policies.
Though our focus is on the uptake of digital tools, our first insight from the interviews was that farmers were consistently faced with a number of pain points, including lack of information and price transparency, unfavourable market access and general difficulty in making a success of change as individuals.
We found that few farmers were currently experimenting with new tools and solutions like e-commerce sites, value chain platforms, and online agricultural information. In general, however, there was good access to infrastructure (internet and smartphones), a good level of education and a general interest in learning and in taking part in farmers’ associations and cooperatives. This points toward a potential for a quick uptake of digital tools and platforms if these are designed to support new practices and overcome pain points. Working with farmers through cooperatives or farmers' associations can help.
Dr. Todd Sanderson, Research Program Manager, Social Systems at ACIAR, commented that the report:
“.....provides a valuable first step in understanding farmers’ experiences and willingness to adopt new possibilities. It illustrates the long road from formal public strategies to widespread adoption of technologies like digital payments and e-commerce solutions”
We recommend that future research be directed towards understanding the connection between digital design and digital adoption. Studying the use of digital solutions will help to build better knowledge of user needs. We further recommend studies of the impact of digital solutions on smallholder farmers, the surrounding communities and the farming value chain. Topics could include design and adoption of digital tools, the practices and usage of tools and the impact of digital solutions and platforms.
The report can be downloaded here. We welcome your feedback.
