THE application of smart farming at every stage of the supply chain is considered a solution to address challenges in the national food sector. Currently, the national food sector faces a number of challenges, including those related to agricultural productivity and the quality of food products that need to be improved.
This was conveyed by the Director of Supply Chain Management and Information Technology of PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia/ID FOOD Bernadetta Raras, when she was a speaker at the Digital Transformation Indonesia Conference and Expo (DTI-CX) 2024 in Jakarta, Thursday (1/8/).
According to him, every industrial player who is part of the national food ecosystem needs to have a commitment and road map in implementing smart farming, so that the transformation of the national agricultural sector runs in a measurable and sustainable manner.
Regarding the urgency of smart farming, Raras explained that the BUMN Food Holding ID FOOD has implemented a roadmap for implementing smart farming in a number of its business lines.
“It is important for ID FOOD to implement smart farming. Because as a BUMN Food Holding formed by the government, ID FOOD has a big task to maintain national food security and increase the inclusiveness of farmers, livestock breeders, fishermen, and MSMEs,” he said.
Smart Farming in the Sugar Industry
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He gave an example, the sugar industry which is the company’s largest business line. ID FOOD adopts smart farming techniques involving remote sensing, sensors, and the internet of things (IoT). With the implementation of smart farming, ID FOOD is able to process sugar cane from 50,000 hectares of land each year while maximizing its production.
“This step provides significant improvements in the company’s business processes. From the management side, for example, the resulting system connectivity supports the process of making fast and accurate decisions, and helps the early warning system that can prevent the company from losses or loss of production,” he explained.
Meanwhile, from the production side, the implementation of smart farming is important to maintain the accuracy of sugarcane cultivation implementation. Starting from planting to harvesting or cutting, thus increasing the productivity of sugarcane and sugar ID FOOD.
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As a result, ID FOOD sugar sales last year grew 5% to 421 thousand tons.
Meanwhile, from the financial side, Raras continued, the implementation of smart farming also has a positive impact; starting from reducing costs or efficiency and increasing income.
In the sugar business line itself, in 2023 there will be a 14% increase in revenue to IDR 5.6 trillion compared to the previous year.
All of this growth certainly cannot be separated from the gradual implementation of digitalization of company technology, according to the Smart Farming Road Map that has been prepared.
“Smart farming has a big financial impact compared to traditional methods, with lower annual costs for labor and equipment. These cost savings can be reinvested into research to improve yields,” he concluded. (Z-6)
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