Closing the Digital Adoption Gap | Episode 1: Digital Infrastructure and Data Foundations

Three years ago, Grow Asia set out to answer a simple question: how do we get digital tools into the hands of smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia? The answer turned out to be more complex than anyone expected. After working across Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, one finding stood out above all others — the barrier to scale isn't a lack of technology. It's an underdeveloped delivery system. Farmers don't adopt digital solutions through apps or ads. They adopt through cooperatives, lead farmers, and extension workers they already trust. That finding is now shaping a new conversation about what it will actually take to close the digital adoption gap in ASEAN.

Introducing: Closing the Digital Adoption Gap Series

A 3-part fireside chat series hosted by Erika Balzarelli of The Sustainable Smallholder, bringing together leaders who are working to turn these insights into action. Each episode takes on a different piece of the puzzle:

1. Digital infrastructure and data foundations

2. Last-mile delivery and inclusive adoption

3. Partnerships, investment, and regional coordination

Join us for Episode 1: Digital Infrastructure and Data Foundations

Before any digital solution can reach a farmer, something else has to be in place — connectivity, data systems, farmer registries, payment rails. These are the invisible foundations that make everything else possible. And across much of ASEAN, they're still missing.

Elizabeth of PLDT Smart sits down with Erika Balzarelli to talk about what it really takes to build digital infrastructure for smallholder agriculture: where the gaps are, what the private sector's role looks like, and why getting this right unlocks everything that follows.

Register Here