Smart farming is finding solutions for many farmers around the world today. Different solutions to test soil quality, address drought, and even measure the food supply chain.
In Malaysia, local agritech platform SM4RT TANI is combining traditional farming with the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud-based solutions to provide Malaysian farmers with robust digital tools to revolutionize the agriculture industry.
In line with the country’s continued efforts to expand its digital footprint, SM4RT TANI is helping local farmers to increase their efficiency, productivity, and yield with cutting-edge solutions. Eseye, a UK-based IoT firm, believes that food wastage in Malaysia could be reduced by 20% by 2025 itself if farmers start utilizing IoT in their day-to-day operations.
The agricultural sector contributes to 7.1% to the national GDP and provides employment for about 11% of Malaysia’s population. However, Malaysian agriculture sector has been relatively slow in adopting modern technology. SM4RT TANI states that modern technology, such as AI and IoT, are perceived as expensive and not viable for the agriculture industry.
Equipping farmers with smart tools
SM4RT TANI’s platform is changing this perception by allowing farmers to obtain accurate information and readings about their crops seamlessly and in real-time, thereby maximizing yield and overall efficiency.
Malaysia’s first licensed IoT provider, Xperanti IoT, utilized the Sigfox Zero-G Network and other IoT connectivity solutions to ensures that farmers have access to real-time pH and weather monitoring, pest control, crop monitoring, and more.
The agritech company asserts that crops can be monitored via the use of sensors connected to a central mainframe and viewed via the SATU dashboard.
Through the SM4RT TANI platform, farmers gain real-time access to alerts, corrections, and reports. Additionally, the technology is highly customizable and designed to meet the unique needs of each user, showing specially curated information that is relevant only to their specific use case and crop type.
SM4RT TANI’s platform also works hand-in-hand with its sister company, Urus Tani, a homegrown digital farm management system under the parent umbrella Singularity Aerotech Asia (SAT). Urus Tani helps farmers capture all operational data, including inventory, human capital, and planning management. The platform complements SM4RT TANI to form complete, end-to-end smart farming systems.
“As the grandson of a farmer, the agriculture industry is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. Over the years, I have seen farmers sweat bullets under the blistering sun whilst manually tending to their crops,” stated Hafeiz Hassan, Founder of SM4RT TANI and CEO of SAT.
“More often than not, these farmers are working with nothing but hazy assumptions and knowledge passed down from prior generations. This not only causes ambiguity in their day-to-day operations, but also creates potentially unnecessary wastage in terms of energy, resources, and time. I wanted to change that with SM4RT TANI.”
Drones as a menu-add on
SM4RT TANI also offers farmers enhanced services through the implementation of drone technology in collaboration with the brand’s partner, Aeronerve.
SM4RT TANI’s offerings include a Soil Monitoring System, Weather Monitoring System, Water Quality Monitoring System, and Digital Farm Management System.
According to Hafeiz, their system has been able to help farmers make data-driven decisions that have ultimately resulted in sustainable growth and greater results. “Through our efforts, farmers have witnessed an increase of up to 25% in yield whilst being able to strategically reduce the use of valuable resources and manpower. We’re keen to keep this momentum going as we continue to spearhead the agritech industry.”
Smart farming solutions all over the nation
Currently, SM4RT TANI has onboarded in 10 farms across Malaysia’s five states.
Moving forward, SM4RT TANI is looking to include even more indispensable features to further improve the working conditions of farmers, such as broiler farm monitoring, greenhouse monitoring, and virtual marketplace to further support the local Malaysian agriculture scene.
As Malaysian farmers continue to adopt and utilize AI and IoT in their daily living, we can be able to see greater yields and rewards for their livelihood–and circumvent any problems that arise along the way.
