smartFARMING


Geoinformatics for Smart Farming in Southeast Asia 

(co-funded by ASEA Uninet, Austria for 2018)

INTRODUCTION

Farming of various food crops, plant products and commercial tree products is expanding as a firm base for economic growth and socio-economic development in several parts of Southeast Asia. This has created a need for identifying new areas as well as new methods for further expansion of these activities. The natural (climatic and physiographic) as well as socio-economic and infrastructural conditions supporting the expansion of such activities vary from crop to crop and place to place so it is crucial to perform multi-variate analysis of the suitable conditions in various regions.


The major factors requiring geospatial analysis for assessing the potential of smart farming of various crops/ plantations are following: 

Ø  Physical Factors (altitude, slope, aspect, soils)

Ø  Climatic Factors (temperature, precipitation)

Ø  Existing Pattern of Crops / Plantations

Ø  Infrastructural Factors (irrigation, availability of processing facilities, proximity to market etc.)

Ø  Social Factors (population, gender, age-structure, education levels, professional skills etc.)

Ø  Relative Advantage Scenarios (for assessing the feasibility and profitability of alternative farming.

The permutations and combinations of various spatial and temporal indicators of atmospheric pollution and climatic changes as well as their impacts on environment and society have been observed widely over the decades. Effective geospatial applications of satellite generated atmospheric and climatic data requires understanding of relevant remote sensing technologies and the types of datasets these provide. The wider applications involve interdisciplinary methodologies and sophisticate technologies for processing the datasets appropriately and analysing their spatial and temporal interrelationships. GIScience has developed the tools and techniques for processing and analysing various types of Geospatial information and re-presenting the present, re-constructing the past and projecting the future scenarios.


OBJECTIVE
  • develop in-depth understanding of satellite based observation of atmospheric and climatic factors
  • introduce a variety of sophisticate methods and efficient GIS-technologies to analyse various processes
  • give 'hands-on' practical training using GIS-software for capturing, processing and analysing various types of spatial information for re-presenting the present, re-constructing the past and projecting the future trends.
ACTIVITIES
  • Organise a short intensive ‘Interdisciplinary Faculty Development Workshops’ at the host institution in Indonesia and invite participants from several ASEA Uninet member Universities in Southeast Asia.

The reason for organising a short intensive multi-partner ‘Faculty Development Workshop’ is to network with several institutions (to share the ’know-how’ and generate higher multiplier effect within a short period (1 week) and initiate an academic network for future scientific cooperation among several institutions of higher education.

PARTNERS

 Organiser Institutions
AUSTRIA:
 - Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS,  University of Salzburg, Salzburg
 - ASEA Uninet, Austria
 
MALAYSIA:
 
- University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Selangor
 Participant Institutions

INDONESIA:
 - Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor
 - Diponegoro University, Semarang
 
- Udayana University, Denpasar

MALAYSIA:
 - 
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
 - University Putra Malaysia, Serdang
 - Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
   
THAILAND:
 - Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai
 - Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok
 
- Naresuan University, Phitsanulok

VIETNAM:
 - Hanoi Universoity of Science ad Technology, hanoi

 - University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi
 - 

Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi


OUTCOMES (see the blog here)
  • An intensive Interdisciplinary Faculty Development Workshop was organised at the Smart Farming TechnologyResearch Centre, Faculty of EngineeringUniversity Putra Malaysia (UPM), Selangir, Malaysia from 29th October to 2nd November, 2018.
  • about 30 teachers and postgraduate students participated in the workshop and completed individual practical projects exploring various Geospatial data sets and their applications for Smart Farming in Southeast Asia.
  • All the participants presented the outcomes of their individual projects in the concluding seminar.
Contact: Dr. Shahnawaz, Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, Austria.