Members of the ITS student team who succeeded in initiating technology-based SR-Farmer (Successful Rice Farmer) aimed at increasing farmer productivity

ITS Campus, ITS News – Many farmers in Indonesia still experience difficulties in their productivity, especially in the control of agriculture (agriculture), which is very minimal due to several things. With this background, a team of students from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) initiated SR-Farmer (Successful Rice Farmer) to increase food production based on technology.

They are students from the 2020 ITS undergraduate program. They consist of Andry Prasetyo (Department of Physics), Aulia Amjad Luthfi (Department of Electrical Engineering), Cindi Dwi Pramudita (Department of Informatics Engineering), Regita Prameswari (Department of Industrial Chemical Engineering), and Abima Aunur Rochman (Department of Statistics).

Andry Prasetyo, the team leader, explained that this idea was to help farmers overcome various problems. The problems range from the everyday use of technology by farmers to obtaining fertilizers and pesticides to proper farming guidelines. “In addition to being profitable for farmers, this application can also benefit various internal and external parties who will use and contribute to the application,” said Andry.

Furthermore, according to Andry, this application also provides eight main features useful for Indonesian farmers, including shopping features, agricultural services, logbooks, rice paddies, mentors, agricultural export features, farmer discussion rooms, and technical guidance for farmers. “The features provided have been adapted to the needs of farmers and added a little technology,” he explained.

User interface of the SR-Farmer application, designed by the ITS student teamThe student who was born in 2002 said that the logbook feature, finding mentors, and discussion rooms for farmers is something special. The logbook feature was created because of the problems with the very minimal mastery of agricultural technology, causing very significant differences in production and research results. This feature is designed to accelerate the progress of farming activities equipped with farming guidance.

With this feature, they hope that it will make it easier for farmers to manage their schedules, especially for new farmers. “The schedule will appear after farmers enter the planting date and a schedule that includes fertilizer application, drug administration, and so on,” he said.

Meanwhile, they created the search for mentors and discussion rooms due to the low level of formal education achieved. That affects the ability of farmers to absorb new technologies such as more efficient use of technologically advanced tools and causes low productivity and farmers’ income. With this application, the consultation feature for agricultural experts provides the facility to order mentors that have been provided in the application, either directly or online.

User app flow and feature view of the Logbook and Rice Farmer Guide features on the SR-Farmer application designed by the ITS student team to make it easier for farmers to produce sustainable rice

With the various features and benefits of the application design, Andry reveals the facts covered by smartphone users in Indonesia in almost all circles. Thus, SR-Farmer’s target market is Rp. 178.45 trillion from all rice farmers in Indonesia, reaching 13.16 million people. “We are targeting a market price of 15 percent of the total available market, namely 1.98 million rice farmers and Rp 26.76 trillion within five years,” he explained.

Under Drs Bachtera Indarto MSi, this team also gave some suggestions. They suggest that many can use programming language used in making applications, Android studio applications, and MySQL as a database management system. In addition, the developer team can integrate the SR-Farmer application with rice growth data and moisture monitoring systems for rice farms.

Based on this innovation, this team also won a gold medal in the 2022 Asian Innovative Science, Environmental, and Entrepreneur Fair (AISEEF) competition organized by the Indonesian Young Scientist Association (IYSA) some time ago. In this event, this team beat hundreds of teams from various universities in Indonesia. “This is a great pride for our work,” he said.

At the end of the interview, Andry and his team hoped that the application and the features provided could help all farmer activities increase productivity and rice farming yields. “With SR-Farmer, in addition to improving productivity and yields, farmers’ quality of life will prosper, and state income will increase,” he said optimistically. (NA / ITS PR)

Reporter: Fauzan Fakhrizal Azmi