The Department of Agriculture (DA) is nearing completion of a new Command Center designed to drive its digitalization strategy and serve as the backbone for evidence-based policymaking.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. called on all officials and employees Sunday to accelerate data collection efforts ahead of the center’s launch, underscoring that the department’s modernization plans hinge on the quality and completeness of the information fed into the system.

“I encourage everybody to gather and provide data that will populate the Command Center,” Laurel told DA personnel. “But we need real data, not fake information, to ensure we make the right decisions and take correct actions.”

The Command Center is envisioned as the DA’s nerve center — a consolidated data hub integrating real-time information on crop production, livestock inventory, weather patterns, trade flows, price movements, satellite field monitoring and supply chain conditions.

By centralizing all relevant metrics, the platform aims to eliminate guesswork, allowing DA planners to anticipate shortages, prevent oversupply, deploy interventions faster and improve coordination across regional units.

To strengthen the system’s analytical capabilities, Laurel said the department is exploring artificial intelligence (AI) tools to process the massive volume of data and help craft actionable insights.

“We will use AI to ask the questions and then hopefully help us solve problems or situations,” he said.

The DA chief added that the department may name the service GAIA, short for Government Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture, a nod to the Greek goddess of the Earth.

The AI layer is expected to help the DA simulate crop scenarios, optimize planting schedules, detect disease risks early, monitor farmgate price distortions, and recommend interventions that align with national goals of food security and higher farmer incomes.