15 Oktober 2026
https://voi.id/en/technology/598546
NANTONG – The global agricultural sector is no longer seen as a traditional industry. In the third day of the Belt and Road Journalist Forum 2026 in the city of Nantong, China, I had the opportunity to visit the Chongchuan District Modern Urban Agricultural Industrial Park.
At the region’s leading research facilities, I saw how digital transformation has redefined the way residents grow crops, through the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), satellite navigation, to unmanned machines.
During the trip, which was guided by the Director of the Jiangsu Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the Yangtze River, Wang Shunxiang, I witnessed firsthand how the technology supports various agricultural processes.
One of the technologies that caught the attention was how they use drones and satellites that work for remote monitoring of crop conditions.
The device works to identify growth variations in each plot, among others through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an indicator that helps describe the level of greenery and the condition of plant vegetation.
This monitoring is supported by sensors and weather data to obtain a more comprehensive picture of land conditions, especially in identifying the characteristics of plant light reflection that can help detect certain disease signs.Data from the drone (Dinda Buana/VOI)
The collected data will then be analyzed using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models through collaboration with research and industry institutions.
The Institute of Smart Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University is involved in developing a model to monitor plant growth, assess pest and disease risks, and generate treatment recommendations.
Furthermore, the digital recipe generated by AI is then sent directly to the agricultural machine control system. Tractors and planting tools are driven by Beidou satellite-based navigation as well as unmanned autonomous hardware (unmanned retrofits), ensuring high precision without overlapping work paths.
In addition, innovation in the field of biotechnology is also applied through the use of microbial inoculants developed together with universities to reduce plant diseases, increase the efficiency of water and fertilizer use, and support increased crop yields.
The implementation of smart farming at the Chongchuan Smart Farm is also reported to have resulted in a number of efficiency improvements.
Based on management data, the operational efficiency of agricultural machinery has increased by 20 percent, while the use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides has decreased by 10 percent.Photo: Dinda Buana/VOI
Labor costs also reportedly fell by 30 percent, while production costs were reduced by 200 yuan per mu or around Rp6.7 million per hectare. These savings are associated with increased operational efficiency and more measured use of agricultural inputs.
The development of this technology involves Nantong Grain Group Co., Ltd. as the provider of the demonstration land and the implementation of field testing.
Together with Jiangsu JITRI Intelligent Sensing Technology Co., Ltd. and the Institute of Smart Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, the company built the Nantong Smart Agriculture (Sensor) Joint Innovation Center.
The experience in Nantong shows how digitization can help the agricultural sector increase efficiency while reducing production costs.
For Indonesia, which is also pushing for digital transformation in the agricultural sector, the implementation of technologies such as drones, sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart agricultural machines can be one of the references to increase productivity.