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Kambyan Network Sdn Bhd, a unit under Arinaa Kambyan Bhd, will be raising RM30 million to enhance and develop its plantation management solution for the agriculture sector, particularly oil palm plantation.
Group executive director Captain Sudhir AK Kumaran said the company initially invested RM10 million for the digital agriculture solution which had been used up to develop the technology.
"We will be launching our solution in phases, starting with our first phase next month in a 800ha oil palm plantation in Tanjung Malim, Perak.
"The palm plantation, which belongs to The National Land Finance Co-operative Society (NLFCS), has been given to us to implement this technology," he told reporters after an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition (Lima) 2019.
Digital agriculture utilises the use of new and advanced technologies integrated into one system, to enable farmers and other stakeholders within the agriculture value chain to improve production.
Under the company ManUsIA, or Man Using Intelligent Applications, the digital agriculture solution utilises technologies such as sensors, communication networks, drones, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other advanced systems and applications.
Moving forward, the company will look into other funding options once the 24-month project implementation frame with NLFCS for the oil palm plantation land is completed.
"Using the ManUsIA platform, we can autonomously manage the plantation. In 18 months, we can harvest the palm fruits.
"Autonomous, harvesting, fetilisation, weeding and transportation - our 24-month roadmap for the NLFCS oil palm plantation land," said Sudhir.
He said the company had established working relationships with several agencies from Sarawak for the other phases, spearheaded by University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS), together with plantation firms such as multinational logging corporation Rimbunan Hijau, Felcra Bhd and Sabah state-owned Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd.
Sudhir said the solution for the oil palm plantation was vital as the sector has been experiencing various challenges such as low workforce, longer time taken for harvesting and also poor palm fruit quality.
"The genetic palm oil yield per hectare is about 40 tonne but the average yield in Malaysia is only 16.3 tonne. Therefore, we have a lot of room to increase production from these oil palm lands.
"As such, our technology will help planters to produce higher yields and reduce dependency on foreign labour, increase the technological knowledge and know-how of our local workers and increase production," he said, adding that the digital agriculture platform will help bring about positive changes to the palm oil sector.
Under ManUsIA, the company offers various high technology solutions to cater for specific industries such as logistics and warehousing, building management, energy/oil and gas, rural area broadband, manufacturing and aerospace.
For the aerospace sector, ManUsIA Aerospace Robotic Process Automation - Field Operations enhances maintenance capabilities by deploying autonomous managed information objects (MIO) such as UAVs, robots, etc to be able to carry out scheduled maintenance or rectifications with minimum manpower.
This will reduce the frontline manpower requirements for operational squadrons in the operational theatre.
Source: www.nst.com.my