Preparing Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers for Agriculture 4.0
By Dr Siti Khairunniza Bejo Associate Professor / Former Head of Department Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia
FEATURE
Food production and supply will face many challenges in the future , mainly due to demographics , scarcity of natural resources , climate change and food waste . The agricultural engineer has a vital role in the agricultural industry :
● to make farming sustainable , safe , and environmentally friendly ;
● to design equipment and develop methods for land preparation , planting and harvesting ;
● to improve ways to reduce crop loss during handling , sorting , packing and processing ; and
● to improve waste management and converting waste to value added products .
The Malaysian Government launched the National Policy on IR4.0 ( Industry4WRD ) in October 2018 to position Malaysia as a total solutions provider for the manufacturing sector in the Asia Pacific region by 2025 . This is in line with a report launched by the World Government Summit in the same year , titled “ Agriculture 4.0 : The Future of Farming Technology ”. It aims to increase productivity while protecting the environment using modern technologies .
Industry 4.0 is transforming the production capabilities of all industries . In agriculture , it involves a transformation of production infrastructures with respect to connected farms , connected tractors and new agricultural equipment . It will use a smart farming approach whereby farmers use the exact amount of required input , such as water , fertilisers and pesticides , at specific times and locations , thus allowing farms to be more profitable , efficient , safe and environmentally friendly . Furthermore , farmers can monitor farm conditions and run agricultural operations without even going to the farm . They also can make strategic decisions for better production . This is due to the use of advancements in technologies such as sensing technologies , positioning technologies , machines , robots , drones , communications systems and application software .
Agriculture 4.0 provides many advantages for the agricultural industries . However , changes in workforce needs due to the advancement of modern technology has driven the need for human capital with relevant and adequate skills in the agricultural value chain : production , harvesting and transport , primary processing and storage , secondary processing , distribution , packaging and handling , and wholesale and retail markets . Therefore , there is a need to train agricultural engineers who are equipped with the necessary skills .
Bachelor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering with Honours
In Malaysia , the Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering programme was first offered in 1975 by the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering , Universiti Putra Malaysia . It is now known as Bachelor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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