Sustainable Agriculture - Group Discussion

Group 2/K3:
● Ananda Zahra Ariannisa (F3401201109)
● Josephine Fatima Devi (F2301201812)
● Raihan Rivellino Adzani (F3401201815)
● Muhammad Ramadhan (F3401201818)

The Role of Agricultural Technology to Promote Agriculture

A. Agricultural Technology to Promote Agriculture

Agriculture plays an important role in advancing the community's economy. Indonesia's

agricultural sector is never free from problems that every year always makes farming difficult.
One of the problems in the agricultural sector in Indonesia is agricultural technology. With the
role of agricultural technology, it is hoped that it will be able to improve the quality of
agricultural products, as well as make it easier for agricultural sector managers to get optimal
work results. However, agricultural technology in some areas may still not be suitable to be
applied as a whole, because it still has to consider several factors such as natural conditions,
experts operating the equipment, and community knowledge about agricultural technology tools.
Progress and development in any field cannot be separated from technological progress,
the agricultural revolution is driven by the invention of machines and new ways in agriculture. If
there is no change in technology, agricultural development will stop. Production stops, the
increase can even decrease due to declining soil fertility or increasing damage by pests and
diseases that are still rampant. An example of technological innovation in agriculture is sensor
technology.
Sensor technology can provide concrete and real time data to farmers. The sensor
technology currently being developed is sensor technology for plants that uses drones to obtain
various data, such as the growth of pests, diseases, and other problems. This technology is
widely developed in horticultural crop farming on a large scale. With this technology, the use of
pesticides and other chemicals can be more targeted and efficient, thereby reducing the negative
impact on the environment.
 The application of innovation in rural areas of Indonesia is closely related to the
implementation of extension services. Field extension workers play an important role in
introducing agricultural technology innovations to farmers. Basically, the role of extension
workers is not only to introduce technology to farmers, but also to increase the capacity of
farmers to be able to run their businesses independently.

B. Agricultural Technology’s Role in Increasing Productivity

Agricultural technology innovation plays an important role in increasing agricultural

productivity, considering that increased production through land expansion (extensiveization) is
difficult to implement in Indonesia, in the midst of the conversion of productive to
non-agricultural land is increasingly widespread. According to data from the Central Statistics
Agency (BPS) in the period 1983-1993 there has been a transfer of land function covering an
area of 935,000 hectares consisting of 425,000 hectares in the form of rice fields and 510,000
others are not rice fields or an average annual of about 40,000 hectares. For 1993-2003 it is
estimated that land conversion doubled from 1983-1993, which is about 80,000 to 100,000
hectares per year. The largest land conversion area occurred in Java by 54% and Sumatra by
38%. The largest land conversion changes are to villages / residential land (69 percent) and
industrial areas 20 percent.
Progress and development in any field cannot be separated from technological advances,
the agricultural revolution is driven by the invention of machine machines and new ways of
agriculture. If there is no change in the field of technology then agricultural development stops.
Production stopped, the increase can even decrease due to declining soil fertility or increasing
damage by disease pests that are still rampant. Examples of technological innovations in
agriculture are sensor technology. Sensor technology can provide concrete and real time data to
farmers. Sensor technology that is being developed today is sensor technology for plants that
utilize drones to get a variety of data, such as the growth of pests, diseases, and other problems.
This technology is widely developed in horticultural crop farming on a large scale. With this
technology, the use of pesticides and other chemicals can be more targeted and efficient, thereby
reducing negative impacts on the environment.
 C. Agricultural Technology’s Role in Improving Crops’ Quality

Other than to increase productivity, technology also plays an important role in agriculture
to preserve and improve the popularity of agricultural products, specifically by using
biotechnology. Agriculture refers to a wide resource of methods which include the traditional
breeding methods, genetic engineering, and developing the microorganisms in agriculture.
Generally, biotechnology has been very well known as the method or the way to develop more
resilient crops. Genetic engineering uses the knowledge and understanding about DNA to
identify and work with the genes of certain agricultural material and will then increase its
resistance to pests for example. Biotechnology also allows the development of high-yielding
varieties which will then make improvements to livestock. In agroindustry, this can be
considered as the example of added value, and it has been proven that the spinoff of
biotechnology in agriculture has resulted in all-around benefits that affected both the farmers and
the consumers.
Biotechnology provides farmers with the tools to make production cheaper and more
manageable. For instance, some biotechnology crops can be engineered or modified to tolerate
specific herbicides, which can make it better and simpler to control. Other crops may be
modified to tolerate potential diseases and insect pests, which can result in the decrease use of
synthetic pesticides. Though having some controversies as it may come off as unnatural or as it
may not be introduced well in terms of its effect on human bodies or the environment in general,
biotechnology will have highly varied uses for agriculture in the future. It may provide
consumers or end users with food that are nutritionally more enriched, last longer, or contain
lower levels of certain toxicants in the raw form of material. It may also broaden the popularity
of agriculture to be used in medicines which lead to a new plant-made pharmaceutical industry
that could probably reduce the costs of productions using more sustainable resources.
Biotechnology could enhance the quality traits of crops, for instance the increased level of
beta-carotene in rice to aid in reducing vitamin A deficiencies. Another example is the improved
oil compositions in canola, soybean, and corn.
 Such examples certainly unlock the ability for agriculture to grow better on-farm, as it
may use better soil and use less chemicals. It also helps agriculture to grow off-farm or on the
market, as it may attract people to buy and to start consuming. Such innovations may be
increasingly important in adapting to or in some cases helping to mitigate the effects of climate
change. It also unlocks the ability to develop animal and plant varieties in agriculture, both those
produced conventionally as well as those produced through genetic engineering.

D. Agricultural Technology’s Role in Selling Product to Customers

Agriculture technology plays a role not only in the process of making a product, but also
in how to distribute it and introduce the product to the consumer. Back in the old days,
advertisements mostly used posters or newspapers, but now we can find a lot of food
advertisements on the television and big screen at the road, even at the big building.
Advertisements have helped in introducing agriculture products and attract consumers in second.
At the start of the pandemic, online grocery shopping arose as a solution for customers to
receive what they needed while reducing their potential exposure to the virus. From groceries to
housing, stuff can easily be bought online. Consumers are growing more accustomed to and
needing the comfort of browsing online. From the survey by ACI Worldwide poll of more than
2,300 consumers, 76% indicated they shop for food online for convenience and simplicity, while
only 56% claimed they do so to avoid potential COVID-19 infection. However, with 81.8
percent preferring to purchase and pay in-store, in-store shopping remains the preferred method
of buying goods. Only 18.1 percent of respondents indicated they prefer to shop online.
Twenty-one percent indicated they shop in stores less now than before the outbreak. Since the
outbreak, 15% have increased their grocery shopping in-store.
In Indonesia it self, the implementation of Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) for the
last one and a half years in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia with a population of
over 273 million, has contributed to an increase in the popularity of online shopping, notably in
the online grocery sector. In reality, the number of e-grocery platforms and consumers has risen
dramatically in the first few months of 2020. the number of persons shopping online in Indonesia
increased from 75 million pre-Covid-19 to 85 million during the epidemic. The country's
e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) is expected to reach US$40 billion in 2021,
ranking third in the world behind China and India.

E. Conclusion
Progress and development in any field cannot be separated from technological advances,
the agricultural revolution is driven by the invention of machine machines and new ways of
agriculture. In other words, technology sure plays an important role in promoting agriculture,
especially in increasing its productivity. Moreover, given that the increased production through
land expansion or the so-called extensiveization is difficult to implement in Indonesia, the
conversion of productive to non-agricultural land is increasingly widespread.
One other role of agricultural technology is played by biotechnology which is known as
the technology to generate and modify certain agricultural materials into more resistant or more
valuable in general. Biotechnology allows the development of high-yielding varieties which will
then make improvements to livestock. Biotechnology also provides farmers with the tools to
make production cheaper and more manageable. Some examples of biotechnology certainly
unlock the ability for agriculture to grow better both on-farm and also off-farm or on the market
and unlock the ability to develop animal and plant varieties in agriculture.
Agriculture technology is important not only in the production of a product, but also in its
distribution and introduction to consumers. Online grocery shopping began at the onset of the
pandemic as a way for customers to get what they needed while limiting their potential exposure
to the virus. The adoption of Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) in Indonesia, the largest
country in Southeast Asia with a population of over 273 million, has contributed to a growth in
the popularity of online shopping, particularly in the online food industry, over the last one and a
half years.