IFAD and Grow Asia Release ASEAN Digital Agriculture Report Proposing Four Investment Priorities

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 30, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Grow Asia jointly released the report "Strategic Pathways to Accelerate the Scaling of Digital Technologies for Smallholder Farmers in ASEAN" in Singapore, proposing four priority investment areas: digital infrastructure, agricultural extension services, inclusive finance, and multi-stakeholder cooperation. The report was presented during the 26th ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry Plus Three Meeting. The study covers ASEAN member states and notably incorporates field surveys and participatory research findings on smallholder farmers in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The report identifies inadequate service delivery systems as the primary obstacle to scaling digital agriculture in ASEAN, with existing digital tools struggling to sustainably reach small-scale farmers. The study lists rural connectivity, interoperable farmer registration systems, digital payment infrastructure, and agricultural data governance as the first investment priority, recommending public infrastructure investment to support access to and use of various digital agricultural services.

The second priority is strengthening grassroots agricultural service delivery capacity. The report recommends supporting agricultural cooperatives, agricultural aggregators, and agricultural service intermediaries in their digital transformation, enhancing the digital skills of public agricultural extension personnel, and integrating demonstration farmers and rural youth into agricultural technology extension networks.

The third priority concerns financing for agricultural digital technologies. The study recommends establishing financing and risk-sharing mechanisms adapted to the seasonal cash flows of smallholder farmers, improving farmers' ability to access digital agricultural services, and prioritizing support for digital tools that can improve climate resilience. The report also proposes providing financing support to agricultural SMEs, agricultural aggregators, and service providers.

The fourth priority is establishing a cooperation mechanism involving governments, the private sector, and philanthropic organizations, with neutral coordinating bodies driving regional project implementation. The report proposes strengthening policy coordination among ASEAN member states and leveraging public funds, private capital, and blended finance to expand the coverage of digital agriculture projects.

The study is an outcome of the "Digital Solutions for Smallholder Economies" (SEEDS) project launched in 2023, jointly implemented by IFAD and Grow Asia with funding support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea. The study recommends alignment with the "ASEAN Plan for the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector 2026–2030" and the ASEAN Action Plan for Sustainable Agriculture.

The report also cites a 2025 survey covering 824 respondents across 8 ASEAN member states. The survey shows that the usage rate of tools such as agricultural advisory applications, digital payments, and digital trading platforms is approximately 37% to 44%, while the adoption rate of agricultural product traceability technology is relatively low. The survey data comes from a 2025 regional study and is not an independent sampling conducted anew for this report.