Smart Communities in Livelihood: Creating #FarmSmart and #PlantSmart Communities

A prosperous economy and society lay a conducive foundation for Smart’s business to thrive and grow. With communications considered as a necessity, as people’s livelihood improve communications’ share of the wallet is also likely to increase, sustaining and expanding the business.  

 As the wireless subsidiary of PLDT, Philippines’ largest fully integrated telecommunications company, Smart therefore plays a crucial role in ushering communities into the digital economy by enabling access to information, improving ways of working, creating new markets, and expanding reach that can help improve the lives and livelihood of Filipinos. 

Under its Livelihood advocacy, Smart promotes digital inclusion among smallholder farmers, cooperatives, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through digital literacy trainings and providing access to markets via e-commerce and fosters food security by enjoining communities to grow their own food.

Digital Farmers Program

• A digital literacy program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI) for smallholder farmers to help increase their livelihood opportunities

e-BizNovation

• A digital literacy program for MSMEs, coops, PWD- and IP-led businesses, and small tourism business players to connect them to e-commerce

Buy Local

• A farm-to-market program that helps provide Filipino smallholder farmers with access to sure markets and affordable capital

PlantSmart

• A food security program that consists of distributing planting kits to communities and training them on starting their own edible gardens and setting up GrowHubs or vegetable gardens in company offices for employees and partner communities

Quick Figures (to date): 

Livelihood: 

• Trained 6,555 farmers, agri youth, & agri extension workers on Digital Farmers Program
• Trained 9,641 participants on e-BizNovation
• For Buy Local: 
• Supported 4,672 farmers 
• Generated Php12M in gross sales 
• Sold 153k kgs of rice
• Loaned Php2.6M capital to farmers 
• Supported 317 farmers with capital

Food Security: 

• Distributed 7,860 PlantSmart Kits
• Set up 2 GrowHubs