Grant Amount: US$ 9,000

Keywords: INTERNET, AGRICULTURE, RURAL, PRODUCTIVITY, CHINA

Geographic coverage: China

Objective

The objective of this project is to use web-based crop simulation and nitrogen model to optimize crop and vegetables production.

Research context

This project aims to develop an "e-Farm" system that provides dynamic web-based crop information and simulation services. The system supports decision-making on agriculture production for farmers and small cooperation agencies in Fuyang, Anji County, Zhejiang Province of China. The crop simulation models combine Nitrogen and water modules, economic analysis and decision-making tools to provide users with methods for optimizing crop and vegetable production.

Target beneficiaries

The e-Farm web-based application tools developed in this project benefit county e-government facilities, farmers, companies and produce traders.

Outputs

• The e-Crop Management SimuSystem for crop management at field level, and also partially as e-extension of agricultural science and technologies at the institutional level;
• Performance tests of the e-Crop Management SimuSystem model;
• Training for users of the system; and
• Project report on system and training modules.

Research results and outcomes

At the time of writing this project remained incomplete although it had achieved many of its proposed objectives. The project team noted that the proposed project duration of 12 months was probably insufficient to cover assessment and feedback from the farmers on the use of the technology, as it would take at least one year to see the results from using the e-Crop management tools.

The project website provides crop management and dynamic decision-making support for farmers by combining information on soil, weather, labour, economics, and water and nitrogen inputs. The system is designed to increase economic benefit and reduce environmental degradation associated with nitrogen fertilizers. The main software tools used are the Structured Query Language (SQL), Active Server Pages (ASP) and the simulation program. The project selected Fuyang, Anji County in Zhejiang Province of China to implement its prototype.

The project has three levels of users - local farmers, local government and the educational institute. The success of the project relies on farmer’s ability to advance production skills by combining this new technology tool with traditional agriculture production techniques. Thus a critical aspect of the project is a user-friendly interface combined with training on use of the system. For local governments, the project provides information on social, economic and environmental issues related to agricultural production that can be used to enhance policy and decision-making. The educational institute plays an important role, as it is responsible for the transfer of appropriate technology to local communities. Thus the project builds educational institute capacity to develop technology solutions that are directly tied to real world issues, as in the case of crop management.

In implementing the project, the project saw that it was critical to establish control at the local level through local coordinator and cooperation units in Fuyang and Anji County. The definition of needs, issues and recommendations generated at the field level were passed to the teams at the Agro-ecology Institute at Zhejiang University who provided administrative and technical support. The project team noted that this presented some challenges, particularly relating to technical problems in coordinating the work with the established government-guided e-Service information provider in the county. Through the design, implementation and utilization stages, 80 farmers, producers and technicians from the towns and county attended training courses on the e-Crop management system. Training involved investigative exercises, field experiments and modules on working with the software. The results of using the software have been a 30 percent reduction in nitrogen application in rice production, representing substantial savings in labour and fertilizer costs.

The project is sharing its results with the Agro-ecology Institute of Zhejiang University to compile training materials and demonstrate the institute’s research activities on Internet applications for public and community use in other sites of Zhejiang province.

Project Duration

Start Date: February 2005
End Date: December 2005
Total Duration: 11 Months

Contact information

Dr. Jingping Yang
Agro-ecology Institute, Hua-Jia-Chi Campus, Zhejiang University
268 Kai Xuan Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310029, China
Telephone: +86 571 8697 1154, +86 130 6775 5647
Email: jpyang@zju.edu.cn

Website: http://www.cls.zju.edu.cn