Waiting in the Wings: Smallholder AgTech
Akmal Fauzi - 03 Nov. 2022
Technology in agriculture or what is also known as agritech is one of the fields in the technology space that is currently growing. The extant challenges in the agricultural sector and current technological advances that have revolutionized other industries such as in the fields of transportation, education, health etc. is driving several business actors to get involved in thinking about leveraging technology in the agriculture industry. One of the main objectives of technology is to bring in efficiency and one can expect technology to increase the productivity of agricultural products.
However, It is certainly not an easy problem to solve. Traditional farmers in Indonesia lack the knowledge of new technologies that can help them increase their efficiency and minimize their risks. Many of them also can not afford it. However, access to technology has never been wider today, even in rural areas, thanks to improvements to the grid and grid coverage. As a result, today's startups have more opportunities to explore the use of connected hardware, or Internet of Things (IoT), in agriculture. Examples of such technology deployed in agriculture today include automatic sensors, pet feeding mechanisms and drones.
Another aspect of advanced technology in agriculture involves data analysis. Agriculture and fishing activities deal with many data points, ranging from weather and climate to soil nutrient content and water salinity. Businesses and farmers can use data analytics to make informed decisions. For example, data collected by sensors on the ground and air and processed in analytics helps farmers better understand and decide when to plant water-demanding crops such as rice, or drought-resistant crops such as beans and tubers. Planting crops at the right place and time will provide a large agricultural yield to farmers.
With the help of technology such as GPS, drones, sensors, soil sampling, precision machines that can help farmers make more informed decisions. The technology can show farmers exactly what is needed in each field and when it will be needed. This means that the technology can help farmers to get better agricultural output and lower costs.
In addition, technology can also help farmer's beyond agricultural land or agronomy. Data analysis and analytics can be leveraged in the supply chain management and logistics process so that critical inputs such as seeds, pesticides and fertilizers can be made more easily available.
It is hoped that technological advances continue to develop to help smallholder farmers in all aspects to get a better life.
Reference :
Indonesia Agritech Report 2020 by A CompassList Research Publication
https://www.farmlinksolutions.ca/grain-marketing-101/three-ways-technology-can-boost-yield-on-the-farm/
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