Adopt digitalisation in farming for better yields - Uggah

KUCHING, March 21 -- Farmers in Sarawak are encouraged to adopt digitalisation or the Internet of Things (IoT) in their farming to increase productivity and reduce costs, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

Uggah, who is also Sarawak Agriculture Modernisation, Native Land and Regional Development Minister, told this to reporters here following his visit to the Sea Horse Corporation Sdn Bhd prawn farm located in Lundu, about 80 kilometres from this state capital, today.

Sea Horse Corporation which is one of the biggest prawn breeders in Sarawak is currently using IoT and automation in its prawn farming process.

Uggah noted that the company has come a long way with the use of technology, especially in its productivity, which they cannot do so with conventional prawn farming.

He said the ponds at the farm are equipped with automatic feeding and technology to measure the quality of the water in them.

“This is all on their own efforts and now all of their 178 ponds in the state are already using IoT and it only cost them RM1.2 million to develop the system.

“After using IoT, we can see that their production has almost tripled or even more. IoT can help farmers to get data and with that data, they will be able to observe and make a decision,” he said.

Uggah, who was on a one-day working visit to Lundu, also took time to visit the Tanjung Purun Paddy Field project and Sri Gading stingless bee honey project there. 

-- BERNAMA