Calata Corp. is investing around P650 million on new technologies that will introduce data-driven farming practices to our local farmers. The agricultural products distributor has partnered with Pessl Instruments GmbH, an Australian company known for its farming technologies, for the installation of weather forecasting service systems in selected locations.
Known as the iMetos weather station, the weather forecast system can provide hourly updates on weather and crop disease warnings seven days a week. Pessl Instruments founder and CEO Gottfried Pessl said that the technology is detailed and accurate and can help farmers gain savings on some costs.
Calata is planning to install 5,000 units nationwide. A single unit costs 130,000 and it has already spent a P15.6 million for the initial testing. Five units were rolled out and have been made available to farmers for free, though the company will be charging a small fee of P470 every year in the future.
