Farmers inspect crops that went through sustainable farming methods.
PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) promote sustainable farming through their #FarmSmart Farm Program, in partnership with Farmvocacy, in a community in Occidental Mindoro.
Farmvocacy is a social agri-enterprise that works with rice growers to produce high quality and environmentally friendly rice through sustainable farming practices.
“PLDT and Smart acknowledge agriculture as key driver for economic recovery and recognize that the success of our own farmers also leads to the growth of our nation. Through our tech-enabled programs, we aim to help farmers get better livelihood opportunities,” said Stephanie V. Orlino, Head of Stakeholder Management Team at PLDT and Smart.
FarmSmart Farm Program beneficiaries in Occidental Mindoro
Part of #FarmSmart Farm’s goal is to help farmers boost their livelihood and increase their income by improving their productivity using sustainable farming methods. PLDT and Smart will also provide the farmers joining the program with farming inputs to lessen their burden of finding capital during cropping season.
PLDT, Smart, with Farmvocacy, provided rice growers with information on how to sustainably grow their crops and utilize their inputs that can help maximize their farming yield. Through FarmSmart Farm, partner farmers were able to harvest 30% more during the first cropping cycle.
This will also provide the farmers with sure and direct access to market. PLDT, Smart, and Farmvocacy will avail the produce at a price 35% higher than the usual buying rate in the community.
FarmSmart Farm Program partners and beneficiaries come together during Field Day.
“Given their limited resources and being risk-averse, we decided to show them the benefits of practicing climate-smart and eco-friendly farming system by partnering with companies like PLDT and Smart who can help advance this advocacy,” said Vincent Mendoza, CEO and Founder of Farmvocacy.
PLDT and Smart also provided Infocast, a web-based broadcast solution as communications support that can disseminate important information and advisories to its partner farmers faster and more conveniently.
FarmSmart Farm Program partners and beneficiaries come together during Field Day.
“FarmSmart Farm Program introduced us to new and improved ways of farming so we can maximize our resources like farm inputs and our time. We also noticed how our harvested crops have improved. PLDT and Smart’s support through this program somehow increased our earnings because some costs were augmented,” said Romulo Halili, one of the program’s partner farmers.
PLDT and Smart prioritize agriculture programs like FarmSmart Farm to help achieve food security and improve the livelihood of farmers. This is also aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #2: Zero Hunger.
