Palawan-based farm management enterprise platform Farm Konekt has partnered with GCash, the mobile wallet of Globe, to provide farmers and fisherfolk access to non-collateralized loans powered by Fuse Lending, Farm Konekt CEO John Vincent Q. Gastanes announced recently.
“In an era where digital transformation is reshaping industries, a groundbreaking initiative stands out in the agricultural sector. The collaboration between GCash and Farm Konekt marks a significant step towards revolutionizing how we support our farmers. As the CEO of Farm Konekt, I am thrilled to share insights into this transformative project,” Gastanes said.
Fuse Lending president of CEO Tony Isidro said that the partnership continues their relentless drive to serve Filipino farmers, aligning the GCash mission to serve every Filipinos.
“Farm Konekt’s connections with the farmer groups make them a good on-ground arm for us to better understand the needs of our farmers, who form one of the most important sectors of our economy,” he said.
The partnership will also give farmers and fishermen access to a wide range of essential business services in the GCash app such as GSave and GInsure to grow their savings and secure their finances.
Farm Konekt offer farmers and fisherfolks clustering solutions encompassing consultancy, capacity building, and supply and demand matchmaking. By focusing on acceleration, incubation, technology, and research and development, they empower farmers and fisherfolk to thrive in the agriculture and fishery sectors through their comprehensive support and access to cutting-edge agritech solutions that will enable sustainable growth, productivity, and profitability for farmers and fisherfolk. They also provides consultancy services, including data-driven insights and other tech-driven solutions, to enable farmers to make informed decisions on production and harvest.
Farm Konekt started in 2021 as a community-based enterprises focusing on inventory management and technical support for clustered farmers started to operate in Palawan. Since then, they partnered with the Department of Agriculture (DA) as Farm Konekt develop what they call as the “smart city” approach in agriculture and marketing of agricultural products for Palawan, which they focus on buying agricultural products from DA-assisted farmer’s associations and cooperatives in Palawan, and help digitalize the inventory management. DA said that Farm Konekt serves as consolidator of the harvests that will be marketed through different digital marketing in various platforms.
Now, they have expanded to other areas in country such as in provinces within Mimaropa region and in Western Visayas. They also started to established trade links in Brunei and Malaysia since last year.
“As a clustering and matchmaking business model for development funds, financing, and integration of goods in the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area) region, Farm Konekt Holdings is uniquely positioned to unlock transformative change in the agricultural and fishery sectors,” Gastanes said, as he promised that this development will benefit farmers within the subregion, including Palawan.