SEEDS Digital Landscaping Report Highlights Delivery Gap in Agri-Food Digital Solutions Across ASEAN Countries
Singapore, October 31, 2026: Grow Asia and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have released a new report highlighting gaps in the delivery of digital agricultural solutions to smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia, calling for stronger infrastructure, partnerships and investment to accelerate digital adoption.
Titled Accelerating Smallholder Digital Adoption at Scale in ASEAN: Strategic Pathways, the report finds that the region’s main challenge is not a lack of technology or innovation but an underdeveloped delivery system that prevents digital solutions from consistently reaching farmers.
The report is one of the major outputs of the Smallholder Economic Empowerment through Digital Solutions (SEEDS) project, jointly implemented by Grow Asia and IFAD with funding from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA). It was presented to senior officials and ministers at the 26th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry Plus Three (AMAF+3) in Singapore on October 30.
Drawing on research across ASEAN member states, including field studies and human-centred design workshops with smallholder farmers in Cambodia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, the report identifies four priority areas to strengthen digital agriculture across the region.
These include investing in foundational digital and data infrastructure, such as rural connectivity, interoperable farmer registries, payment systems and data governance; strengthening last-mile delivery through digitally enabled cooperatives, improved agricultural extension services and the involvement of lead farmers and rural youth; promoting inclusive adoption through financing and risk-sharing mechanisms suited to smallholder farmers; and institutionalising public-private-philanthropic partnerships to improve regional coordination.
The report also outlines four investment pathways aimed at mobilising greater private and blended finance for digital agriculture. These include positioning foundational infrastructure as an investment that enables markets and increasing access to capital for agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises, aggregators and service providers that often struggle to secure adequate financing.
The findings align with the ASEAN Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sectoral Plan 2026–2030 and the Action Plan for Sustainable Agriculture in ASEAN, which identify digital innovation as an important factor in strengthening food security, climate resilience and inclusive rural development.
The report also supports the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Towards 2045 and the Philippines’ priorities for its 2026 ASEAN chairmanship, which emphasise regenerative and resilient agriculture.
Beverley Postma, Executive Director of Grow Asia, said the findings confirmed that existing digital solutions were not consistently reaching the farmers and agricultural businesses that needed them most.
She said the priority was to strengthen the delivery systems connecting infrastructure, institutions and incentives so that digital tools could become a sustainable part of farming rather than short-term experiments.
Postma added that ASEAN had the potential to lead in tropical digital agriculture but required coordinated implementation and investment in systems capable of delivering tangible benefits at the farm level.
Reehana Raza, Regional Director of IFAD’s Asia and the Pacific Division, said digital transformation would benefit small-scale farmers only if solutions reached rural communities effectively.
She said the SEEDS project had demonstrated how partnerships involving governments, private-sector organisations and farmers’ groups could support digital adoption. The report, she added, provides ASEAN member states with a practical roadmap for moving beyond fragmented pilot projects towards country-led digital systems that connect rural communities with markets, employment opportunities and greater resilience.
Grow Asia Expands Digital Agriculture Initiatives
Alongside the report’s release, Grow Asia highlighted initiatives designed to address the identified challenges.
Earlier in 2026, Grow Asia and the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture Vietnam (PSAV) announced an artificial intelligence skills training programme aimed at reaching up to 100,000 rice and coffee farmers in Viet Nam.
The initiative is being implemented in partnership with Edufarmers International Foundation and Viet Nam’s National Agricultural Extension Centre (NAEC), with grant funding from Google.org.
The programme aims to provide practical, farmer-focused AI tools to help smallholders make informed decisions about planting, crop protection and adapting to climate variability.
According to Grow Asia, the initiative reflects the delivery-system approach recommended in the report by combining public, private and philanthropic investment, working through trusted government agricultural extension channels and designing digital solutions around farmers’ needs.
About the SEEDS Project
The Smallholder Economic Empowerment through Digital Solutions (SEEDS) project was launched in 2023 by IFAD and Grow Asia with financial support from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The project aims to accelerate social and economic development for small-scale farming families in Cambodia, the Philippines and Viet Nam through digital and information and communication technology solutions.
About Grow Asia
Grow Asia is a non-profit organisation established by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
As an entity associated with ASEAN, it works with member states to develop inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems across Southeast Asia by bringing together public, private and philanthropic partners.
Its network includes a regional secretariat in Singapore and five country partnerships, engaging hundreds of organisations and supporting smallholder farmers through technology, training and access to finance.
About IFAD
The International Fund for Agricultural Development is an international financial institution focused exclusively on transforming rural economies.
It invests in rural communities, strengthens agricultural value chains and supports initiatives aimed at improving food security, shared prosperity and stability. IFAD and its partners have nearly US$23 billion invested in ongoing projects focused on transforming rural economies.
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