Precision strategy, mechanization saving farmers time and revenue
With new technologies these as synthetic intelligence and huge facts, clever agriculture is envisioned to deliver about important changes to traditional agriculture in China, an specialist mentioned.
Shi Yun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ Institute of Agricultural Means and Regional Planning, reported China will comprehend entirely mechanized, automatic and electronic agriculture by means of building intelligent and precision agricultural systems.
Precision agriculture is an agricultural administration program aimed at optimizing inputs to achieve the most financial and environmental positive aspects, utilizing systems including distant sensing and satellite navigation, he reported.
The thought was proposed in the 1990s by industry experts from the United States, hoping to ease generation and environmental dilemmas encountered in world wide agriculture.
Precision agriculture is able to lessen labor charges, help you save drinking water, fertilizers and pesticides, and steer clear of or lessen unneeded choice-creating mistakes, Shi said.
China has integrated intelligent or precision agriculture into its No 1 Central Document considering the fact that 2012. So much, demonstration bases for intelligent agriculture have been developed in 13 spots including Beijing, Heilongjiang province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous location.
“In new a long time, the nation has been building precision agriculture procedures in terms of irrigation, fertilization and harvesting,” Shi reported.
Precision irrigation－for instance, drip irrigation underneath mulch－can drastically lower expenditures and maximize the performance of h2o and fertilizer use.
The technique is specifically vital in Xinjiang, where much more than 80 per cent of the country’s cotton is produced.
By increasing soil temperature, storing drinking water and managing ailments, the approach has improved h2o and fertilizer utilization although also enhancing cotton quality.
The method can lower agricultural inputs by 35 p.c on ordinary and enhance cotton creation by 30 percent, in accordance to China Science Interaction.
Other technologies for precision agriculture this kind of as plant safety drones and harvesting robots can also help save resources and expenditures, increasing farmers’ incomes and cutting down their financial losses triggered by organic disasters, Shi stated.
XAG, China’s greatest agricultural drone maker, cooperates with Alibaba Cloud to assistance farmers make improvements to effectiveness and decrease charges.
With cloud computing, and database and cloud storage systems, XAG has founded a farmland navigation community. Drones can instantly create routes by accessing higher-definition farmland maps, fly and spray accurately, and offer standardized agricultural companies.
Making use of cloud technology and AI, distant sensing drones are in a position to review plant development, disorders, pests and weeds, and correctly information the spraying drones to have out focused operations, drastically reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
According to a social responsibility report by XAG, in cooperation with Alibaba Cloud the business has served extra than 4 million farmers cope with labor shortages and soaring charges.
In the meantime, precise spraying engineering has helped save 1.4 million metric tons of water and 6,000 tons of pesticides and fertilizers, the corporation explained.
Nonetheless, the enhancement of precision agriculture still faces worries and lags at the rear of formulated international locations.
“Some core products and strategies, this kind of as elements of agricultural sensors, however rely on imports, and huge shortages remain in sensible agriculture professionals,” Shi said, introducing that much more money assist is desired to comprehensively advertise intelligent agriculture nationwide.
Robotics technology and artificial intelligence, which have been utilized in made countries, will be the upcoming way of precision agriculture growth in China, but they will need to be adapted to healthy area conditions in unique spots.
“Because artificial intelligence and robotics have been utilized in China for a comparatively short time, it is essential to open up a modern day route with Chinese characteristics primarily based on community disorders,” Shi said.
For illustration, big grain developing places, this kind of as Northeast China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River may possibly try out the electronic agriculture model of Germany and France.
Israel’s computerized drip irrigation technological innovation can be released to drinking water-scarce spots in China, he stated.
“Creating precision agriculture is an essential way to notice agricultural modernization, considerably improve creation ability and even further make sure national meals security,” he included.