West Pasaman, 16 October 2019 --- Rice, corn, and chilli farmers in Tanjung Durian Village, Gunung Tuleh Sub-Regency, West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra now no longer need to be confused every time they start farming. Various questions usually arise when farmers want to start planting, like, Will it rain if planting this month? Or, is it appropriate for fertilizer to be stocked today? How many? To answer these questions, BNI initiated the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0 Movement together with the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and PT Mitra Sejahtera Membangun Bangsa (PT MSMB).
On Wednesday (16 October 2019), the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0 Movement entered the second city, West Pasaman, West Sumatra, continuing its first and successful launch event in Garut, West Java on October 9, 2019. Internet-based Smartfarming 4.0 technology (IoT) is at the heart of this program. What distinguishes it from the previous regency, this movement in West Pasaman received support and synergy with the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
BNI presents the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0 Movement with the aim of helping farmers to be more prepared to face the planting period October - March 2019/2020 with the help of the use of digital technology. With this technology the cultivation process is more effective and will produce even-increasing production, and in the end, it will further improve the farmers’ welfare.
Smartfarming 4.0 itself is a land and weather sensor technology so that it can monitor land conditions in realtime, and is expected to provide more measurable and precise agricultural data. This method is expected to help farmers in increasing efficiency and productivity.
This activity is filled with a series of activities, ranging from farmer gathering to increase productivity with the help of precision agriculture and easy access to BNI banking, to the application of the latest digital technology that is very easy to use by farmers of various types of cultivation crops.
On this occasion, the event was attended by the Regent of Pasaman Barat Regency, Yulianto, the Financing Director of Ministry of Agriculture, Indah Megawati, the Division Head of the Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Digital Economy of Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Wijayanto, the SEVP and Network Director of BNI, Ronny Venir, the GM of Small Business Division 2 of BNI, Bambang Setyatmojo, the Head of Padang Regional Office, S Hidayat Safwan, the Field Officer of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Program of West Pasaman, Muhammad Reza Ardillah, the Head of Investor Relations and Project Management of PT MSMB, Ari Aji Cahyono, as well as more than 200 farmers and farmer representatives or farmer groups and agricultural entrepreneurship in West Pasaman Regency.
Access to BNI Financing
BNI’s role is to ensure that farmers obtain low-cost, easy to financing access, and assistance to use the smartfarming RiTx technology during cultivation process. In the harvest season, farmers' production will be absorbed by BNI partner offtakers. In the future, farmers will become more productive, more efficient and effective, the results of their land or fields will be easily reached by the market, and eventually become professional and qualified farmers.
In his remarks, Yulianto expressed his gratitude to BNI for the implementation of the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0 Movement. The West Pasaman Government welcomes the application of both mechanization and digitalization technology so that it can help the productivity of West Pasaman farmers. "I hope that KUR BNI can continue to be improved, especially to help the West Pasaman farmers community," he said.
On the occasion, Ronny Venir revealed, "BNI synergized with the Ministry of Agriculture and PT MSMB as strategic partners in the application of agriculture 4.0 through mechanization and digitalization to increase production and the farmers’ welfare”.
Through farmer's workshop, Fahmi, one of the farmers in Tuleh Mountain was touched and expressed his profound gratitude for BNI's assistance in the form of KUR loans and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agricultural technology. This assistance helps farmers to increase their agricultural production. According to Fahmi, there are many benefits obtained from the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0 Movement in West Pasaman, he can see the condition of paddy fields only through his cellphone.
At this event, BNI provided CSR assistance in the form of RITx Soil & Weather Sensors that are used to record real-time land conditions and predict precise weather conditions so farmers can optimize their commodity production.
The provision of CSR to these farmer groups is expected to improve the welfare of KUR farmer beneficiaries in the production sector and increase the portfolio of KUR distribution by BNI, which until 30 September 2019 has reached Rp 14.4 trillion and touched 165 thousand KUR beneficiaries throughout Indonesia.
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Secretary BNI
Phone: 021-5728387
Email: bni@bni.co.id