IDEATION
Converting agriculture practices into more efficient, resilient and sustainable ones for the smallholders
Working on this mission, we are developing new and linking together existing solutions that could change how food and other agricultural products are grown, harvested, packaged, stored, transported, processed and sold - to improve productivity and boost sustainability.
In tandem with the effort of promoting the right and feasible technology solutions, business models, and best practices to the smallholders, we endeavour to establish a shared digital ecosystem for Agrifood in Malaysia. We envisage such ecosystem platform could benefit wider-range of stakeholders in the Agrifood space, from farmers, food manufacturers, logistic and financial service providers, wholesalers, retailers, down to the end consumers.
Our intended Agrifood digital ecosystem platform (ADEPT) is about enabling vast sharing and use of data by all stakeholders along the supply chain.
-
Applying data-intensive smart practices and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in agriculture and farming can provide a lens for ensuring the transparency of the farming practices and sustainability of the agricultural sector and Agrifood production processes.
-
Rich data from B2B, B2C and services marketplace platforms can provide great analytical insights for planning of demand-driven production, better pricing or subsidy mechanism, and accurate measures to fill any supply shortcomings.
A collaborative model that is commercially feasible for all participants would be key for such platform to sustain. A new paradigm is needed for understanding and optimising the function of the current traditional ecosystems and the role of data platforms. This goes beyond the current paradigm of user-centric software design for single companies or supply chains, but it is subjected to a much more complex ecosystem of stakeholders and consumers. We are working with multiple partners who share similar aspirations, consulting subject matter experts, and engaging private and public stakeholders towards realising this mission.
Food Security
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. (World Food Summit, 1996)
Global agricultural production capacity is under strain from urbanization, environmental degradation and climate change. Yet, the demand for food continues to grow as the world’s population is expected to increase to 8.2 billion in 2025 from 7.8 billion in 2020.
Malaysia has yet to reach the level of self-sufficiency for basic food. Faced with such an imbalance, there is a dire need to reconsider how the local players in Agrofood ecosystem grow, harvest and distribute food.
Data and Precision Agriculture
The barriers to making precision agriculture available to small farmers are significant, no doubt. These include, among others:
-
Data availability
-
Affordability of precision equipment including tools to collect and manage data
-
Readiness to adopt in terms of discipline to to rely on data, and knowledge to interpret and make use of data innovatively
A huge number of farming machines are now able to collect data from the field, including tractors, combines and sprayers, using satellites, high precision positioning systems, smart sensors and a range of computer applications combined with high-tech engineering. There are numerous types of data that can be collected and utilized in precision agriculture – each set of data helping to build up a large and accessible picture for the farmer. Measures can be taken to determine patterns in soil and weather conditions, seed viability, topography, nutrients, disease history, row distance and planting depth.
Precision farming has been known as a capital intensive undertaking, and its adoption limited to those with larger scale farm land. Today, producers of agricultural technology are developing smaller versions and new types of devices that meet the needs of small farmers.