'Smart agriculture' changing lives of China's farmers

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-12-25

A rice field in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, Dec. 21. (File photo/Xinhua)

The internet is changing China's agriculture sector through the use of sensors, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data, which are helping create semi-industrialized production methods, Guangzhou's 21st Century Business Review reports.

"The use of big data and the maturing of the Internet of Things will compensate the shortcomings of traditional agriculture, making the industry more scientific," said Fang Fahe, chief technology officer at Beijing-based iSoftStone.

The company has begun building its model for smart agriculture, setting up sensors with cameras in farms in northern China's Hebei province to collect data about crops, temperatures, precipitation and humidity. The data, along with that recorded by farmers through mobile devices given by the company are then uploaded to the cloud and analyzed to help better manage the farms, according to the magazine.

The process also allows regulators to easily trace sources of food when there are safety concerns and allows better management of production, inventory and logistics, the magazine added.

"We now offer clients comprehensive solutions. The environment was quite restricting in the past because of lagging development, but the conditions have matured," Fang said.

Fang also told the magazine that growing demand for equipment used for the Internet of Things has pushed the development of new technology and microelectronics.

Market researcher Gartner has forecast that the new equipment to be deployed for the Internet of Things will grow by 30 percent from 3.8 billion to 4.9 billion next year, and to 25 billion in 2020.

The use of the internet will lead the industry's efforts to push production by order, since the use of technology can help reduce water needs in agricultural production and keep farmers in touch with market demand, Fang said.

Several e-commerce companies including market leader Alibaba have expanded into agriculture, which Fang described as a positive development for a sector that relies on the use of big data, since Alibaba itself is competing with the edge of being the owner of a sizeable amount of data.