Startup businesses receive support to build smart agriculture in Cagayan Valley

The agriculture-rich Region II held its first-ever Startup Week this January. Photo from DTI.

Startup businesses are receiving support in Cagayan Valley as the agriculture-rich region seeks to make itself a breeding ground for tech-savvy and innovation-inspired enterprises.

Over 100 stakeholders from the public and private sectors participated physically and virtually in the first-ever Cagayan Valley Startup Week 2021 held on January 13-15, 2021.

The 3-day event aimed to increase the awareness of the startup community on the different innovations and significant opportunities that are available under the new normal. It also aimed to inspire the startup community through the sharing of best practices and success stories of startups in the country.

The Startup event was organized by the Cagayan State University BizNEST in partnership with the different government agencies in Region 2 such as the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Agriculture, and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

At the event, DTI Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba presented the innovation and start-up ecosystem performance in 2020 where the Philippines ranked for the first time as among the top 50 in 131 countries, 4 notches higher compared to the previous year.

DTI Region 2’s Leah Pulido Ocampo discussed the situation of startups in the Cagayan Valley:

• Ocampo said that the aim should be to produce more tech-based startups who will provide digital and automated solutions for everyday living or for businesses, particularly in the areas of production, logistics, processing, marketing, and product servicing.
• She emphasized the need for startups that will make lives and industries smart, with smart homes, smart agriculture, smart logistics, smart processing, smart marketing.

At the closing of the Startup Week, DTI R2 Isabela Provincial Director Winston T. Singun shared its recommendations:

1. to expand the existing research arm of the RDC to what DTI proposes as the Regional Research and Innovation Development Committee, which will institutionalize multi-stakeholder collaboration and government support in the development of startups
2. the establishment and rolling out of the Regional Inclusive Innovation Center (RIIC) in Region 2 which is expected to create a more robust innovation ecosystem and open more opportunities particularly on Smart Agriculture
3. the crafting of a Regional Startup Roadmap that mirrors the overall directions from the national level, and which will lay down a cohesive strategy to make Cagayan Valley a startup-friendly region

A climate-smart monolithic dome in Cagayan Valley serves as a warehouse of agricultural products such as seeds and other farm inputs.

The 1st-ever Pasinaya Virtual Trade Fair of Region 2 MSMEs held in 2020 generated 1.2 million sales.

SEND CHEERS in the comments below to the people of Cagayan Valley as Startup businesses receive support to build smart agriculture in the region.

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Source: Good News Pilipinas