[VIDEO] SIMA ASEAN 2018 Targets Agriculture 4.0 and Sustainability

Can Asia compete with Europe’s already growing field of digital agriculture? Here’s what the professionals think about Agriculture 4.0 and sustainability in Asia.

Bangkok buzzed to the agricultural beat as over 9,000 agribusiness players from 30 countries, including farmers, buyers, dealers, key machinery manufacturers and industry associations around the world gathered at SIMA ASEAN, held at the IMPACT Exhibition Center on June 6 to 8, 2018.

Asian producers had the opportunity to learn about the latest technologies in digital agriculture which, according to Professor Thanh Phung Mai who spoke in the panel discussion, should help farmers raise their profits:

At present, agricultural labor is at a high rate in countries like Vietnam in particular, but productivity rate is low. Agriculture 4.0 can help many farmers in Asia and keep up with European countries like Holland which has already applied it to their potato production, resulting in a 21 % rise in profits for the farmers.

Speakers on the Panel for the Agriculture 4.0 in the World Session: PhD NGUYEN Duy Luong, Vice President of VFAEA, Professor MAI Thanh Phung, Former Head of Southern office of national Agricultural Extension Center, Professor VO Tong Xuan, President of Nam Can Tho University

In response to this need, exhibitors in the Machinery Showcase section presented different types of robotic aerial drones, harvester machines and farm processing equipment. En-Green Group from Thailand introduced its new generation electric unmanned helicopter drone with 20 kilograms payload capacity and a spraying efficiency that could reach 130-230 Rai per day. New Holland also presented their latest tractor, the TC5.30 combine which is a machine designed in harvesting a wide variety of crops in the toughest working conditions.

At last year’s SIMA, New Holland’s NHDrive won the Innovations in Agricultural Equipment Awards, along with the Case IH cabless tractor. New Holland is currently working on a pilot project to test its NHDrive autonomous tractor technology. Having partnered with E. & J. Gallo Winery, the company will use autonomous technology in everyday vineyard activities to demonstrate the technology’s adaptability.

The Digital Smart Box was also presented at the event by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and Digital Government Development Agency of Thailand which aims to help farmers to access direct information from the DOA and get more information for their farming needs. The Digital Smart Box has an application called “DOA Plants For U” which can be downloaded in mobile phones and notebooks and has nine agricultural information categories that include: variety, production technology, fertilizing, irrigating, cropping system, disease and pest management, agricultural mechanization, documentary and agricultural early warning.

Although farmers are headed down the digital path, they are also putting importance on sustainability. Several discussions sponsored by the Agricultural and Food Marketing Association for Asia and the Pacific (AFMA) focused on sustainable agriculture, pointing out the different ways to empower start-up agriculture and food operators to gain economic, social and environmental return on investment. In an interview with Thirach Rungruangkanokkul, executive director of AFMA, we are reminded that:

“Farmers are very important performers in the sustainable food value chain.”

Watch our video interview with Thirach Rungruangkanokkul below.