[Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 3rd March 2026] – 27 Advisory and IRGA Digital have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise a strategic collaboration aimed at advancing data-driven decision-making and analytical capability across all plantation sectors.
The collaboration is designed to enable plantation owners, management teams, and boards to convert fragmented operational data into governance-grade intelligence to support operational optimisation, strategic planning, and regulatory compliance. By strengthening the connection between field-level data and strategic oversight, the initiative addresses long-standing challenges related to data fragmentation, inconsistent reporting, and limited integration between operations and decision-making.
Industry context
Globally, oil palm is cultivated across approximately 26 million hectares, with Malaysia accounting for about 5.61 million hectares, or roughly 20% of the total global planted area. At this scale, effective plantation management increasingly depends on the ability to transform complex, high-volume operational data into actionable intelligence. Data-driven decision-making has become critical to improving productivity, optimising replanting cycles, managing cost and labour constraints, ensuring sustainability and regulatory compliance, and strengthening oversight at both management and board levels.
The collaboration aligns with 27 Advisory’s core advisory mandate to support industry stakeholders through structured intelligence, strategic insight, and evidence-based decision frameworks. Combined with IRGA Digital’s digital agriculture and data platform expertise, the partnership seeks to elevate how plantation data is structured, analysed, and applied across both operational and strategic contexts.
“Plantation groups today sit on large volumes of operational data, yet much of it remains fragmented, inconsistently reported, or disconnected from strategic decision-making,” said Ivan Yee, Managing Consultant from 27 Advisory. “This collaboration is focused on creating a unified data and analytics environment that improves performance visibility, supports informed planning, and strengthens governance across plantation operations.”
Key areas of collaboration include:
- Structuring and standardising plantation data to enable consistent, comparable analysis and reporting across estates and portfolios
- Developing analytics and decision-support frameworks that translate operational data into actionable insights for management and board-level oversight
- Applying predictive and scenario-based analysis to support yield planning, cost discipline, resource allocation, and operational optimisation
- Producing industry-level and client-specific intelligence to support benchmarking, advisory engagements, performance reviews, and strategic planning
- Collaborating on the development and pre-deployment of AiPlanter, including data architecture, analytics design, and use-case definition, to support scalable, data-driven plantation management
- Collaborating on solution design, analytics governance, pilot programmes, and industry engagement to ensure alignment with real-world operational requirements and the strategic priorities of plantation owners and operators
“This collaboration reinforces 27 Advisory’s commitment to supporting the industry through structured intelligence and data-led advisory,” Ivan Yee added. “Our team comprises senior practitioners and advisors with decades of experience spanning plantations, agri-commodities, infrastructure, energy, financial services, and regulated industries, including work with listed groups, institutional investors, and boards. By bringing this cross-sector perspective into IRGA Digital’s initiatives, we ensure that digital and analytics solutions are grounded in operational reality, governance discipline, and strategic relevance, enabling clearer, faster, and more defensible decision-making.”
Harish Subramaniam, CEO of IRGA Digital, commented, “By integrating digital agriculture capabilities with robust analytics, including Field+, IRGA Digital’s mobile application, this partnership strengthens how plantation data is captured and utilised from the field through to management and advisory levels. Moving beyond static reporting, Field+ enables structured, real-time data flow that supports actionable insight, operational consistency, and long-term performance and resilience across plantation operations.”
This strategic collaboration reflects a shared commitment by 27 Advisory and IRGA Digital to support the plantation industry’s progression towards disciplined digitalisation, stronger analytical maturity, and sustainable, data-informed growth.
About 27 Advisory
27 Advisory is a strategic advisory and intelligence firm supporting decision-makers across agriculture, commodities, the built environment, natural capital, and emerging industries. We combine deep sector expertise with market insight to help clients anticipate change, unlock value, and build resilient, sustainable strategies.
About IRGA Digital
IRGA Digital is a digital agriculture and technology company delivering AI-powered platforms, data analytics, and digital solutions to enhance productivity and decision-making in plantation and agri-based industries.
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Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
