Evaluation of Conventional and Mechanization Methods towards Precision Agriculture in Indonesia

Abstract

Food security is a major concern in many countries, including Indonesia. Land productivity has decreased due to shrinking agricultural land, global warming, and land degradation. Precision agriculture (PA) empowers people to use agricultural technology to increase productivity. Therefore, this study aims to examine PA from adopting agricultural machinery. The method used in time series analysis is pooled least squares (PLS). The results show that the transition from conventional methods to using mechanized tools, especially tractors, significantly (at a sig level of 1%) affects rice production in Indonesian rice centers. These results form the basis that Indonesian rice farmers are enthusiastic about various technologies, so the opportunities for PA are significant. However, the gap between PA research in Indonesia and developed countries needs attention, and research collaboration can be a solution. From a practical standpoint, PA integrated with the internet is challenging for Indonesian farmers. Therefore, empowering farmers through various synergy mechanisms is proposed in this study.