Agricultural Engineering Study Program Faperta Unhas Facilitated a public lecture entitled, “The Role of Agricultural Machinery in the Development of the Agricultural Industry and Agricultural Modeling Based on Big Data.” It was held on the 1st floor of the Faperta Hall (21/6) starting at 14.00 WITA until finished.
Starting the activity, the Dean of Faperta Prof. Dr. Ir. Salengke, M.Sc in his speech expressed his gratitude for the visit of two speakers from IPB.
“Thank you to our resource persons who have taken their very busy time to share their knowledge with all of us,” said Prof. Salengke.
Present as a guest speaker, Dr. Ir. Desrial, MEng., IPU as General Chair of the Indonesian Agricultural Engineering Association (PERTETA) as well as Director of the Yanmar Agricultural Research Institute IPB with the material title “The Role of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery in the Development of the Agricultural Industry.”
Desrial in his presentation explained that Indonesia is an agricultural country that occupies a large position in terms of agricultural labor. Indonesia’s agricultural workforce is currently at 29% compared to the agricultural workforce in other countries.
However, in reality, even though the number of workers is relatively large, some agriculture in Indonesia still depends on imports. According to Desrial, this is not optimal when compared to Japan which only amounts to 3% and America which only amounts to 2%.
“The two countries are able to optimize their agricultural sector because they make maximum use of human resources, natural resources, and infrastructure technology to achieve targets. Not only primary needs that require maximum technology in processing but also tertiary needs,” he explained.
Also present Prof. Dr. Ir. Budi Indra Setiawan, M.Agr as the Head of the Water Resources Engineering Division of IPB presented material entitled “Agricultural Modeling Based on Big Data in Supporting the Development of the Agricultural Industry.
Prof. Budi explained that technology related to the agricultural sector has developed very rapidly. He compared today’s technology with decades ago, which still relied heavily on human power.
For him, trying to explore technology related to agriculture is very important to catch up with other countries. He gave an example by utilizing big data-based technology that can be utilized in planting.
“The land should not be too small, nor too wide. The soil should not be too muddy, nor too dry so that industrial farming tools can be added to it. The key to the success of modern agriculture is the tools,” he explained.
