Food supply,
With the acceleration of the digital shift, it has become even more crucial for the PCC to be “vigilant in monitoring developments in digital markets and boost its technical capacity to safeguard competition in these markets,” Mr. Balisacan said.
Doing so will protect consumers and small businesses who depend more on these technologies and maximize the growth potential of the digital economy, he added.
“As we know it, ensuring competitive processes will build a robust foundation for sustained and inclusive growth, which is necessary for the strong recovery of our economy.” Addressing post-harvest losses In properly-functioning food markets, where information flows freely and where there are no barriers to entry and to the movement of goods and services, goods will naturally flow from areas with surpluses to areas experiencing shortages, Mr. Balisacan said.
But the Philippines is still far from achieving that. Chief among the problems inherent in getting from point A to point B is ensuring that enough of the crop survives in order to be sold.
Postharvest losses of major farm commodities in the Philippines range between 10 and 50%, according to the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization.
“In the Philippines, postharvest losses of commodities represent a very significant loss…” it said. “This means that 10 to 50% of all the land, inputs, and labor used to produce the commodities go to waste. And it also means that all of us… have a lot of work to do.”
The global average for postharvest losses is around 14%, according to the FAO. In all production stages, about one-third of the world’s food is wasted, it said.
To address such waste, sensors can be deployed to measure properties of fruit to determine their readiness for delivery to various destinations, according to a study by Jean Frederic Isingizwe Nturambirwe and Umezuruike Linus Opara, postharvest technology experts at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University.
The data generated by the sensor data can then be reflected in packaging materials to provide indications of their state of freshness. These sensors can also send data to a command center that can be accessed by both producers and consumers.
Investment in cold-chain facilities and equipment that processes produce on-site or as near to the production areas as possible can also cut food waste and ensure that there is sufficient food dispatchable to areas experiencing food insecurity, Ms. Torres said.
“It is important to boost postharvest support while there are bottlenecks in the supply chain and there are extreme disruptions in the mobilization of supply,” she said.
Such investments will increase the likelihood that surpluses can be moved to areas suffering from shortages and to “prepare (for) seasons of the year when supplies are low,” according to Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
“Processing facilities would enable much longer shelf life for manufactured agricultural products that could also be sold locally as well as in export markets,” he said.
The private sector and government should also collaborate in putting up common warehouses accessible to rural farms and linked to digital ledgers, giving farmers access to multiple markets while reducing marketing costs.
OVERCOMING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Emerging technology and digital infrastructure designed to streamline the supply chain may have unintended consequences and negative trade-offs, said Terry L. Ridon, convenor of infrastructure think tank InfraWatchPH.
Many Filipinos still cannot access internet service of sufficient quality, and may not even know how to use it. The digital divide can create information asymmetries that could do more harm than good. Meanwhile, weak data management can lead to the misuse of farmers’ business and personal information.
Mr. Ridon said the government needs to accelerate public access to digital and physical infrastructure to avoid such information asymmetries, which could further disenfranchise the already marginalized members of the agro-food system.
“Governments need to define what truly matters in reforming the agriculture sector,” he said, noting a need to determine “which technologies are most appropriate to implement in this sector.”
“It is our view that what matters the most is ensuring the best and fairest prices to both consumers and producers,” he added.