Digitalization of agriculture in rural areas in West Java, Indonesia: Potential and challenges

This paper was not presented at the conference.

Abstract

This paper was not presented at the conference.

Indonesia has 83,843 villages, which play an essential role in national development. In 2022, with FAORAP, we evaluated the Digital Village Ecosystem, including agriculture. The survey results in 17 villages in West Java, with 250 respondents, show that internet infrastructure has reached rural areas but needs to be improved in agricultural and fisheries land, not just in residential areas. Several cases illustrate the agricultural digitalization in rural Indonesia. Digitalization has potential from production supply to marketing. In production, agricultural digitalization uses the Internet of Things (IoT) for watering and soil monitoring, such as Habibi Garden, which is already at the commercialization stage, while the locally developed Alif Karya is still in the trial stage. Digitalization of fisheries, such as e-fisheries using IoT to provide fish feed, has been implemented in various regions. Meanwhile, livestock digitalization, such as Inagri, which uses IoT to feed livestock, is still in the pilot stage. Regarding supply, connecting farmers and buyers is often simple, using instant messaging. Al Ittifaq still relies on spreadsheets and Google Sheets to manage orders. Regarding marketing, the Aruna platform can increase price transparency for fishermen. The benefits of digitalization are only being felt by large-scale farmers. In contrast, small-scale farmers face several obstacles, including high equipment costs, the need for infrastructure, and more human resources for maintaining digital services. To create a digital ecosystem in rural Indonesia, government support is needed, building innovation incubators, technology adaptation and adoption programs, and cross-sector collaboration.