DA to roll out digital hub for food ecosystem

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will launch its command center that will serve as a centralized digital hub for data-driven management of the food supply chain.

The DA said on Monday its digital nerve center would consolidate key agricultural data to better manage food resources and stabilize prices.

“The DA already has most of these data but they are scattered across various agencies,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

“We must bring them together and make market sense of them, plus gather additional data that we lack, so we can use our limited resources more efficiently and productively,” he added.

The DA said the enhanced forecasting of the supply and demand, coupled with the restoration of the National Food Authority’s regulatory powers through the proposed amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law, should help build a buffer against future price shocks.

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The digital hub will handle data on local production, imports, stock levels, different types of the same products and movements, alongside wholesale and retail prices, consumption rates, production and postharvest infrastructure, utilization, irrigation coverage, spoilage and global market trends.

It will also cover the central registration of all food facilities and cold and dry warehouses with their stock levels. It will start with rice, but include other sectors, such as high-value crops, livestock, poultry and fisheries.