The adoption of the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0) technology in the agricultural sector is capable of helping the government in managing the issues of food security in the country while reducing the pressure on national resources.

However, chairman of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Datuk Dr Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said, it would require full cooperation from various quarters including producers, academicians, researchers, developers, policymakers and consumers.

“The results of MDEC’s pilot project, Digital Agtech, prove the capability of digital technology and automation in agriculture, but there is still room for technological improvement.

“We were able to get through the agri-tech version of IR 4.0 and enter ‘agtech’ which is also proposed under Malaysia 5.0 that was inspired by Japan’s Society 5.0.

“The vision of Malaysia 5.0 is to create a society that is highly integrated with technology, governed by inclusive and fair eco-vironmental principles and practices,” he said in a statement here today.

Rais Hussin said, soon, innovative fintech and trading platforms such as the blockchain-based peer-to-peer (p2p) market can be considered to support small farmers by minimising the role of middlemen while ensuring the best prices for consumers and high margins for farmers.

MDEC’s efforts to adopt IR 4.0 agricultural technology involving various smart farming activities, such as fertigation, fine mist spraying, aquaculture, poultry farming, irrigation and soil monitoring have also proven successful.

“MDEC observed how that this agricultural technology had increased the productivity, quality and income of small farmers by over 20 percent and most of them had been able to enjoy higher incomes and market their produce,” he added.

Source from: Bernama(2021). IR 4.0 Agricultural Technology Can Help Government to Manage Food Security Issues. Retrieved from: Sun Media, The Sun Daily(June 02, 2021). https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ir-40-agricultural-technology-can-help-government-manage-food-security-issues