The future of digital agriculture in ASEAN may depend less on the next breakthrough technology than on a far more practical question: how do you ensure farmers actually use it?
A new report argues that while the industry has spent years testing digital solutions, it has overlooked the systems needed to get those tools into farmers’ hands and keep them there.
“Digital agriculture in ASEAN does not suffer from a lack of technology or willingness to act. It suffers from an underdeveloped delivery system.”
The report was co-authored with Erika Balzarelli of The Sustainable Smallholder and developed through the Smallholder Economic Empowerment through Digital Solutions (SEEDS) project, jointly implemented by Grow Asia and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and funded by the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA).
It draws on four years of work in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam, it examines why digital agriculture adoption remains uneven and what it takes to scale.
The starting point
Speaking to AgNavigator, Balzarelli highlighted that digital public infrastructure (DPI) as the essential starting point to closing the delivery gap.
“If there is no digital infrastructure, the rest of the layers, such as the innovation itself, cannot really be brought to the farmers and cannot be scaled,” she said.
Balzarelli elaborated that building digital infrastructure can be driven either by governments, with the private sector following closely behind, or by private-sector pioneers, with governments stepping in later to support scale through policy and regulation.
“In India, the government under Modi initiated digital public infrastructure, with the private sector closely involved as a co-creator and investor. In Kenya and parts of East Africa, the private sector moved first, with governments later introducing policies to support scale. It really depends on the country’s context, and which institution or organisation is willing to take the first plunge.”
Regardless of who makes the first move, Balzarelli said a neutral coordinating body will be required to orchestrate the various actors involved.
“When you talk about shared responsibility, there also needs to be accountability. In the report, we argue that this could take the form of a multi-stakeholder partnership platform. That could be the ASEAN Secretariat or another institution, but it needs to be an impartial party.
“There are already many organisations that could play this role. Grow Asia is one example, IFAD could be another, and a ministry of agriculture could also take on that responsibility. We believe the real challenge is reaching agreement on who should lead and coordinate those efforts,” she said.
Human-centric design approach
Infrastructure alone will not be enough to attract long-term capital if technologies fail to meet farmers’ needs.
Balzarelli pointed out that many agtech business models still cater to farmers that are younger, more digitally literate, or with higher income, leaving most of the smallholder market underserved.
Frederique Glazener, regional lead of programs at Grow Asia said this can be addressed by taking a human-centred design approach that involves farmers directly in the development process.
Through workshops conducted under the SEEDS programme, researchers have engaged different groups of farmers, including women, youth and older producers, to better understand how and when they use digital tools.
Such insights can help developers create technologies and business models that are more accessible and relevant, ultimately improving adoption rates and making the sector more attractive to investors.
“If it’s not farmer-centric, there is no product-market fit. There is no market. There is no investment,” said Balzarelli.
Glazener also emphasised that long-term adoption should be considered just as important as technical performance.
“A lot of these pilots are testing whether the technology works, and obviously that is important. The technology needs to work well. But sometimes these pilots forget to test how to ensure farmers keep using it after the pilot ends.”
She added that for digital agriculture to scale, stakeholders must focus less on deploying technologies and more on helping farmers adopt them.
That includes strengthening onboarding, support services and commercial models that allow solutions to survive after donor-funded programmes conclude.
The report argues that most digital services at the moment are “one-size-fits-all” and more work needs to be done to ensure digital agriculture benefits reach all farmers rather than a select few.
“These communities are very different. You have younger and older generations, and when it comes to digital technology, their attitudes are extremely different and should be approached differently… The older generation often follows the younger generation. Then you also have women, both younger and older women. What we argue from a policy perspective is: don’t treat it as one size fits all,” Balzarelli.
She called on governments to target digital investments more precisely, developing training programmes that reflect the distinct needs of younger farmers, older farmers and women.
“That’s the basis on which you can create a ripple effect. It all starts with extension services, because a one-off pilot by an NGO or a small startup will not change things drastically. They simply do not have the scale and capability that government extension services can provide.”
