Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - About

1.Rationale

Food and nutritional security is an important agenda in Malaysia as it is globally. This issue of food security is amplified with increasing population growth, decreasing amounts of arable land and water resource, climate change and ageing farmer population. Important factors affecting crop production such as water and nutrient supply often vary considerably over space and time even within a single agricultural field.  In particular, the lack of nutrients in crops, water stress or plant diseases can have negative drastic effects on crop growth.

There is a need to devise and use innovations such as precision agriculture, ICT and big data in combination to offer precise insights.  ICT technologies were introduced in the agri-food sectors about two to three decades ago and made their impact with the introduction of computers, internet, email, mobile phones, However, ICT adoption especially in farm management systems, in early warning and decision support systems for crop management is rather slow and insignificant. One way to enhance ICT uptake for increasing crop efficiency and productivity is through the adoption of precision agriculture. This allows for the increased efficiency and productivity of crops, land use efficiency, etc.

However, to adopt this technology there is a need for rapid and precise handling and interpretation of GEO-data. Variation in abiotic and biotic conditions are detected by various sensors, translated and processed with external data bases, web services and software. Other related fields which ICT allows for better decision making is in smart control and monitoring system for plant factory, artificial intelligence and agro-robotics and big data for smart agriculture. Precision agriculture, therefore, plays an important role in acceleration adopting of ICT technologies. To accelerate and encourage the use of ICT in precision agriculture, it is important to communication with international experts through the organization of international scientific forums and workshops where ideas and knowledge can be exchanged and shared, gaps between current and desired capabilities can be bridged through new collaborative initiatives.

2.Objectives

• To bring together international expertise, researchers and technicians of public and private sectors and to encourage the exchange of experience and knowledge on precision agriculture among participants
• To generate insights into innovative solutions through the use of ICT in agriculture
• To facilitate future strategic collaboration among academia, research institutions, and the private sectors to create and effective ecosystem for capability development, technology transfer and commercialization

3. Major Findings and Recommendations

• Invest on programs on awareness and promotions of ICTs for precision agriculture in rice farming.
• Establish mobile training Centers to train farmers and share their success stories.
• Create a formal framework for ICTs in agriculture to provide free-flow of information to help in decision making.
• Develop training modules for introduction and operation of major ICTs.
• Develop a system to establish data exchange.
• Link and involve the private sector for they are potential customers of ICTs for precision agriculture.
• Form guidelines, standard data protocols, and countrywide data protocols for the use of ICTs in agriculture.
• Establish virtual communities like chat groups for farmer leaders to create a channel for information exchange.

Group Photo