Strengthening Smallholder Farmers: Indonesia and Germany's Precision Agriculture Partnership

"Indonesia has extraordinary natural wealth potential, but on the other hand, we also face major challenges in the form of reduced agricultural land and climate change which have the potential to reduce the productivity of the agro-industrial sector. This requires innovative and efficient solutions to ensure food security and agricultural sustainability in the future. One answer to this target is the application of precision agriculture based on advanced information and communication technology (ICT) to gain and transmit plant data to the farmer. Plant data can form the basis for field adjusted management in plantations, especially under varying environmental conditions that we face with global warming. The insitu plant data can support decision making based on the actual requests in the field. By means of adjusted agricultural management we want to follow the common goal of optimizing the use of natural resources, increase efficiency, and reduce food waste. "In this way, we can not only increase productivity but also maintain the sustainability of the agricultural sector in the future." said Prof. Bayu Taruna Widjaja Putra, Professor in the field of precision agriculture from the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Jember (UNEJ), who is also the Country Representative from Indonesia in the International Association of Precision Agriculture (ISPAG).

In developed countries in Europe, precision farming has developed rapidly and become part of modern agricultural practices. The choice to use ICT in the agricultural sector has become common place. Thanks to the support of good technological infrastructure and easier access to funding and training, farmers in European countries are able to adopt precision agricultural technology. However, validation of plant sensor technologies and accessibility of the data in a digestible form is still under development.  In Europe, governments and academic institutions play a major role in supporting research and development of precision agriculture technology. Many subsidy programs and incentives are provided to farmers to adopt new technologies, as well as cooperation between the public and private sectors that encourage innovation. This is different from conditions in Indonesia, where technology adoption is still hampered by high costs and technical limitations among small farmers. Additionally, in Europe, training and education regarding precision agricultural technology is more structured and easily accessible, with many educational institutions offering specialized courses in this area.    

As part of national efforts to advance the agricultural sector, the University of Jember (UNEJ) with the vision "To become a superior university in the development of environmentally sound science, technology and arts, business and industrial agriculture" also supports the development of technology for industrial agriculture. UNEJ is committed to developing technology that can be applied in industrial agriculture, especially for small farmers. Through the Center of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Industrial Agriculture and the Laboratory of Precision Agriculture and Geoinformatics, UNEJ is actively conducting research related to precision agriculture.       

Through a meeting that took place in Germany, Prof. Bayu Taruna Widjaja Putra, with Dr. Manuela Zude-Sasse from the Leibniz-Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), who is also the Country Representative of Germany in ISPAG. This meeting discussed various important aspects of cooperation in developing precision agricultural technology, especially to support small-holder farmers. This meeting marked an important step in collaborative efforts to introduce advanced technologies and precision farming practices to smallholder farmers. The discussion focused on how precision farming technology can be adapted to local conditions and implemented effectively for small-holder farmers. The plant data need to be gained reliably at limited cost and transmitted to the farmer in digestible format. Consequently, this collaboration includes several main initiatives focused on joint scientific and practise publications, as well as the development and adaptation of technology to suit the specific conditions of small-holder farmers. Through this collaboration, it is hoped that precision agricultural technology can be more easily accessed and adopted by small farmers. This step is part of a long-term vision to create a more modern, efficient and sustainable agricultural sector.

Source: ispag.org