Objective and Target Participants

The course is designed to build the capabilities of a critical mass of stakeholders by offering advanced knowledge of farm mechanization to enhance agricultural productivity and the competitiveness of the agriculture sector in APO member countries.

 This course is designed for those who are:

• Interested in learning the agricultural machinery applications from preharvest to postharvest phases and their role in sustainable growth in the Asian context.
• Working in academic organizations, research institutes, and agricultural extension services of government organizations, farm machinery development companies and non-government organizations.
• Keen in promoting smart farm machinery and mechanization and have special interest in the subject.

Background

The agricultural sector in Asian countries is facing the critical challenge of aging farmers without successors and the lack of interest in farming by the younger generation. The rapid decline in farm labor has also led to a doubling of the workload for each farmer regardless of the increased risk to their health and safety as they age. Smart agricultural machinery has the potential to resolve labor shortages and assist the aging farm workforce in Asian countries to increase agricultural productivity on a sustainable basis. This can also help attract youth to agriculture for the establishment of profitable business enterprises.

This course is being organized to enhance individuals’ understanding of the opportunities available for smart agricultural machinery applications, allowing them take new enterprise and technology initiatives as they and their organizations face tremendous challenges in an era of rapid technological transformation.

Scope of smart farm mechanization

Agricultural machinery applications are divided into preharvest and postharvest operations. In the preharvest preparation phases, soil sampling and analysis, field preparation, transplantation or broadcasting, and crop scouting and intercultural operations could be mechanized. The postharvest phases cover harvesting, yield monitoring, transportation, threshing, drying, storage, parboiling, milling, and packaging. Machinery companies and original equipment manufacturers are attempting to offer more smart applications involving user registration for the tracking of harvesting, drying, threshing, milling, and packaging operations, ensuring the traceability of products from farm to table. Sharing cost-effective farm machinery systems and technologies including digital technology-enabled automated farm machinery and devices in various stages of farm operation are critical.

Course Content

This course consists of 10 modules as listed below

Module 1: Introduction on Smart Agricultural Mechanization

Module 2: Soil Sampling and Analysis (Preharvest Phase 1)

Quiz 1

Module 3: Applications in Land Preparation and Soil Mapping (Preharvest Phase

Module 4: Transplantation or Broadcasting (Preharvest Phase 3)

Quiz 2

Module 5: Crop Scouting and Intercultural Operations

Module 6: Harvesting, Yield Monitoring, and Transportation (Postharvest Phase 1)

Quiz 3

Module 7: Drying (Postharvest Phase 2)

Module 8: Storage (Postharvest Phase 3)

Quiz 4

Module 9: Threshing, Parboiling, Milling, and Packaging (Postharvest Phase 4)

Module 10: Farm Mechanization as a Business

Quiz 5
Final Exam