The office head stated that the 100-percent rate is recorded among shallot and red chilli farmers receiving assistance from BI at the Science Techno Park in Ogan Ilir District, South Sumatra.
"I can say that the success rate of farmers that have implemented farm digitization reaches 100 percent," Soeriadimadja stated here Friday.
He remarked that BI had collaborated with the South Sumatra Regional Research and Development Agency and Ogan Ilir District Science Techno Park to develop pilot projects for digitization of shallot, red chilli, and chicken egg farms.
The farmers were successful in increasing their harvest to 10 tons last February, as compared to the initial harvest of seven tons, he pointed out.
Soeriadimadja stated that mobile applications helped farmers to know the right time to water and fertilise the plants to reduce the likelihood of crop failure.
Digital soil and weather detectors, mobile-based crop fertilization and watering monitoring, as well as CCTV technology have also been used by farmers to boost their harvest, he added.
He said that digitization is not only essential for distribution and marketing but also for the pre-production, production, and harvest processes.
Digitization will also minimize the potential of crop failure, the office head added.
Soeriadimadja stated that efforts to digitize the province's agriculture sector are also aimed at controlling regional inflation since shallots, red chilli, and chicken eggs have significant effects on the province's inflation levels.
"We hope that the adoption of digital farming would bolster agriculture production, particularly of shallots and chilli, to help stabilise prices and production in South Sumatra," he stated.
He expects that innovations in digitization made in the Science Techno Park can be emulated by other farms in South Sumatra's cities and districts.
Related news: Farmers in Adonara facing crop failure
Related news: El Nino triggers crop failure in Kupang
Translator: Dolly Rosana, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
