Asian Institute of Management's e-Magsasaka website wins the first EWS Innovation Olympics 2018

East-West Seed, a vegetable seed company held its first Innovation Olympics--for Agriculture, Engineering, and students studying in other fields--in the country that will innovate technology for the farmers.

The #EWSInnovationOlympics Winner, the Team Agriviz from Asian Institute of Management

From September 2017 to April 2018, the top three finalists of the Olympics have all researched for the development of the technology in Philippine agriculture. The three teams are as follows:

1. Team PocketFarm - University of he Philippines, Los Banos

2. Team Agriviz - Asian Institute of Management

3. Team iAgriVentures - University of the Philippines, Los Banos

Team PocketFarm makes use of cellphone to help farmers manage the moisture content of their farm lands.Through the sensors scattered on their farm land, the device will prompt farmers via text message whether his vegetables need to be watered or whether the plants have been over-watered.

The Team PocketFarm piloted their device in petchay farms in Los Banos and Calamba and are hopeful that their gadget could help increase farmers’ produce by as much as 40-50%.

For Team Agriviz, they are taking pride in their e-magsasaka online platform which hopes to address two of the major problems of our farmers:  lack of direct access between buyers and growers and lack of market information between buyers and growers. 

The e-magsasaka online platform hopes to minimize the involvement of middlemen which would increase the farmers’ revenue to at least 20% and keep the prices of vegetables more affordable for the consumers.

Team Agriviz with Mr. Henk Hermans, General Manager of East-West Seeds

The last and another team from UP Los Banos, Team iAgriVentures are hoping to address through their multi-crop dryer, effectively converting excess fresh tomatoes to dried tomatoes and creating an alternative way for farmers to sell their produce.

According to Team iAgriVentures, most tomato growers do not have storage facility and are, thus, forced to sell their excess produce at more than 80% less its actual value. However, with their solar-operated dryer, farmers get to convert their excess produce to dried tomatoes catering to a different market, those who opt for dried tomatoes as an alternative to cooking.

The e-Magsasaka online platform of the Team Agriviz from the Asian Institute of Management won the first-ever  East-West Seeds Innovation Olympics. The team won PHP 250,000 cash that will help them with finances in piloting their agriculture innovation. 

The Team Agriviz mentioned that their platform is still keenly looking into payment methods since it is new to the farmers. They are also honest that the website is still going under holistic developments before fully implementing it to the Luzon farmers.

The e-Magsasaka platform is projected to be finally launched by quarter three of this year.