Utilization of Information and Communication Technology ( ICT ) as Agricultural Development Instrument Acceleration

To keep pace with this , the government is attempting to utilize Information and Communication Technology ( ICT ) as an instrument to accelerate agricultural development . The use of ICT in agriculture is often called e - e - Agriculture or Agribusiness . In the Strategic Plan ( Strategic Plan ) Department of Agriculture , from 2005 to 2009 , has been declared operational policies ICT program , namely :

( i ) . Development and Implementation of Information Systems and Agricultural Statistics ,
( ii ) . Improved Utilization and Dissemination of Information ,
( iii ) . Improving the Quality of Human Resources in the Field of Statistics and Information Systems , and
( iv ) . Development and Institutional Arrangement Information Systems .



Has long been recognized that the role of agriculture sector in Indonesia is important , not only its contribution to employment , but also as a producer of foodstuffs , driving the emergence of other industries , driving the emergence of business opportunities in other activities , and a relatively large foreign exchange earner . But along the way , the agricultural sector faced a number of obstacles , partly because of the
narrowing tenure , the limited control of capital , lack of use of technology and the difficulty of marketing . As a result , the display (performance ) agriculture becomes less as expected .

Understanding E - Agriculture

Understanding of e - Agriculture or e - Agribusiness itself is taken from the definition of e (electronic ) in the concept of Information and Communication Technology ( ICT ) , namely agriculture and / or agribusiness that harness the power of ICT such as computers , internet , software ( softwares ) and hardware ( hardwares ) , radio , television and other iT devices , as well as the people who operate the ICT . E - Agriculture applications or e - Agribusiness can be done in all agricultural activities ranging from
activities in the upstream ( production process ) to the downstream ( marketing ) . FAO has been utilizing ICT in network activities , publications , databases and web creation .

Utilization of ICT in Agriculture

ICT is now also trying to encourage the Indonesian agriculture to compete . This is understandable because of the role of ICT is often prominent , whether it's in production and technology activities in the information technology activities . Thus , slow or fast , then agribusiness in Indonesia should be able to master the technology .

The ICT component can usually be grouped into four , namely :

1.     Technoware ( physical facilities , such as machinery ) ,
2.     Humanware ( ability / skill labor ) ,
3.     Infoware ( information / data ) , and
4.     Orgaware ( organization ) .

For example, for an enterprise level development of processed agricultural products , ICT will help determine the activities of the company . The four components of the above , of course intertwined with each other , because each one component will affect other components .

Government tasked to build the agricultural sector actually also have begun to consider and incorporate ICT in the development of a five -year program the Department of Agriculture . Now , the Ministry of Agriculture introduced a program called Accelerated Pilot Program and Correctional Agricultural Technology Innovation ( Primatani ) . This program is basically designed to accelerate the utilization of research results to be implemented in the agricultural community , in particular by making use of ICT excellence .

Meanwhile , the Ministry of Agriculture to utilize ICT program :

( i ) . Development of Agricultural Statistics ,
( ii ) . Development of Information Systems , and
( iii ) . Supporting Information Systems Development and Agricultural Statistics .

Utilization of e - Agriculture or e - Agribusiness in the private sector and in agricultural education have not felt as expected . Based on the above it is suggested that there kepemihakan government to encourage the use of e - Agriculture or e - Agribusiness in all activities in the sphere of agriculture, especially in the field of softwares , hardwares and human resources. The goal is to accelerate the pace of agricultural development in Indonesia.