Digital technicians help farmers work smarter, reap gains

Aerial photo shows farmers working in the fields in Qianfoan Village of Chuzhou, east China's Anhui Province, June 21, 2022. (Photo by Shen Guo/Xinhua)

HEFEI, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- On a crisp winter morning, the vast paddy fields are tinged red by the rising sun. A group of young people carrying backpacks stops by the fields, taking out computers and launching drones into the air. From time to time, they glance at their screens and tap on their keyboards.

As usual, agricultural digital technician Chen Qiufeng and his teammates started their busy day by collecting data and revising code in the paddy fields in Zhangying Village in the city of Chuzhou, east China's Anhui Province.

In June this year, "agricultural digital technician" was added to the country's list of new occupations by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It is an occupation that analyzes farmers' digital needs and offers them digital solutions.

Chen and his teammates spent nearly six months in Zhangying Village every year for the past four years. To create an internet product for local agricultural development, they have walked almost every corner of the village to collect information on farmlands and understand farmers' real needs.

"If we don't go out to the fields to observe and think about problems from the perspective of farmers, it's difficult for us to develop an internet product that meets farmers' real needs," Chen said.

The agricultural social services administration platform is the first digital product Chen and his team developed for the village. The platform serves as a central data processor that analyzes the information collected by Internet-of-Things sensors, unmanned drones and Beidou satellites. It presents the actual conditions of soil and crops and automatically generates farming suggestions. With the click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone, users can access real-time crop data.

"We've customized a set of planting models for different rice varieties. Even a novice farmer can do a good job following the suggestions generated by the platform," Chen said. "It can also help farmers water and fertilize their farmlands in a timely and precise way, greatly reducing planting costs."

In 2020, the platform entered its trial operation stage. Ping Donglin, who returned from overseas and has just begun his own career as a farmer, volunteered to use the platform.

After Ping finished his studies overseas in 2017, he was fascinated by modern agriculture and was determined to make a difference back in his hometown. Ping established an agricultural cooperative with 6,200 mu (about 413.3 hectares) of rice fields in six villages.

"It is difficult to manage a wide area of farmland in a traditional way. With the help of the digital platform, I only need to tap my phone screen to fly drones to check the farms' conditions," Ping said.

As the platform eases the burdens of many local farmers, Chen and Ping have co-released an online application where carefully selected agricultural products can be sold and customers can "adopt" farmlands.

"With 3,280 yuan (about 472 U.S. dollars), you can 'adopt' one mu of rice fields for a year. You'll harvest 200 kilograms of high-quality rice and fresh eggs, chicken and vegetables in one year," Ping said. "Adopters can see the real-time growth of their rice on the application and can also come to see their rice fields in person."

To date, more than 100 mu of rice fields have been adopted, Ping said.

"The quality and taste of the rice is great. We also harvest many other green agricultural products. My family and I usually drive there to see our rice field and experience nature," said Ji Kai, 29, an IT practitioner in Nanjing, the capital of the neighboring Jiangsu Province.

"The agricultural social services administration platform helps manage the farmlands, and the online application helps expand sales channels. I have more confidence to increase our rice-growing area," Ping said.

"Being an agricultural digital technician offers me an opportunity to realize my self-worth. I will take root in the farmlands and develop more useful digital products for agricultural development," Chen said.