President Jokowi Checks Simulation Of Fertilizer Spread With Drones In Merauke

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) accompanied by Iriana Jokowi directly observed the simulation of the use of drone or drone technology in the distribution of fertilizers in a stretch of 40 thousand hectares of rice fields in Merauke Regency, South Papua.

President Jokowi, who was also accompanied by Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman, reviewed the drone simulation to sow fertilizer, precisely in Telaga Sari Village, Kurik District, Merauke Regency, South Papua, as a form of implementation of the concept of smart farming.

Head of South Papua Agricultural Training Center Roni said smart agriculture based on the "internet of things" (IoT) was carried out completely using the internet network.

"To accommodate it, we make the programming language in Android language so that it can be used on a cellphone," said Roni, based on an official statement from the Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 23.

In addition to using drones to sprinkle fertilizers, Roni also said that "smart farming" has many real benefits for farmers, ranging from remote control to "automatic weather stations" to knowing air temperature, rainfall, wind direction humidity, wind speed, sunlight, fluctuations, and others.

"By using smart farming, we carry out watering activities, there is control called soil moisture, the limit is 30 percent. Below that means dry soil, water. If 30 percent of the land is wet, there is no need to water it. Likewise, we submit fertilizer to our program and then it can be executed on mobile phones," he said.

The President and Iriana also had the opportunity to have a direct dialogue with farmers regarding the benefits and challenges in the application of this technology.

Farmers also appreciate collaborative efforts between the central government, regional governments, and farmers in making technology a solution to agricultural challenges in South Papua.

One farmer, Tenang Wibowo, admitted that he had felt a significant difference after using the smart agricultural concept. According to Tenang, through the agricultural concept, he and other farmers get better agricultural products.

"After this activity, we studied so that with this the difference is for better production. In the past, we used to have a maximum hectare of only 80-90 sacks, if this is the case (smart farming) thank God we could increase it to 120-130 ikats," he said.

Calm also hopes that the government can pay attention to pumping which is considered insufficient for the needs of farmers for irrigation more than 1,000 hectares of rice fields.