Garut, 9 October 2019 --- BNI has reaffirmed its commitment to building the Indonesian agricultural sector so that it can become more competitive. This time, BNI presented 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 using digital technology. With this technology, the cultivation process is more effective and will produce ever-increasing production, and in the end, it will further improve farmers’ welfare.
The Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement is a follow-up program of the Escort Planting Season (OKMAR) Movement which was carried out in 2018 - 2019. the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement is planned to be carried out in the centers of production of Indonesia's leading agricultural commodities.
The beginning of the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement was held in Cikembulan Village, Kadungora Sub-Regency, Garut Regency, West Java, Wednesday (9 October 2019). 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.
The Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement is a cooperation between BNI, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and PT Mitra Sejahtera Membangun Bangsa (PT MSMB) bu using by utilizing the advancement of Internet-based (IoT) Smartfarming 4.0 technology. Smartfarming 4.0 applies soil and weather sensor technology, so that it can monitor land conditions in real time, and is expected to provide more measurable and precise agricultural data. This method is expected to help farmers in increasing efficiency and increasing productivity.
Present on this occasion were the Regent of Garut Regency, Rudy Gunawan, the Finance Director of Ministry of Agriculture, Indah Megawati, the MSME Business and Network Director of BNI, Tambok P Setyawati, the GM of Small Business Division 2 of BNI Bambang Setyatmojo, the Head of Investor Relations and Project Management of PT MSMB, Ari Aji Cahyono, and more than 200 farmers and farmer representatives or farmer groups from 5 regency agriculture entrepreneurship in Garut Regency.
BNI’s role in this movement is intended to ensure that farmers get low-cost, easy payment access, and assistance that utilizes smartfarming RITX technology during cultivation process. In harvesting season, farmers’ production will be absorbed by BNI’s offtaker partners.
In his speech, Rudy Gunawan expressed his gratitude to BNI for the implementation of the “Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement "Garut Government continues to encourage the technology application of both mechanization and digitalization so that it can help the productivity of Garut farmers who are the food barns of West Java," he said.
Meanhwile, Tambok P Setyawati conveyed, the movement is in line with the government’s vision in the application of agriculture 4.0 through mechanization and digitization for production increase and peole’s welfare, and BNI synergizes with Ministry of Agriculture and PT MSMB as a strategic partner in the implementation of precision agriculture.
Through a farmer's workshop, Sahli, one of the farmers in Kadungora expressed his thankfulness and gratitude for BNI's assistance in the form of KUR loans and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) so that the results of agricultural production have increased. Sahli added, with the Welcoming Agriculture 4.0. Movement, Garut farmers were increasingly spoiled because they could monitor paddy fields using smartphone.
Precision Agriculture
On the same occasion, Bambang Setyatmojo said that the implementation of precision agriculture in Garut increasingly complements the series of Garut Agriculture Entrepreneurship Programs. "At the moment a Rice Milling Unit (RMU) is being built which will soon be inaugurated, we hope that the increase in Garut farmers' production through smartfarming 4.0 can be absorbed by the RMU and branding and tracking the results of rice production from farmer joint groups in Garut," he said.
On this event, BNI handed over CSR aid in the form of RITx Soil & Weather Sensor which is used to record the land condition realtime and to predict weather precisely so farmers can optimize their commodity production. The CSR submission to farmer groups is expected able to improve farmers’ welfare of KUR beneficiaries in production sector and add to the KUR distribution portfolio 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