Digitalization for agricultural supply chains resilience: Perspectives from Indonesia as an ASEAN member

Fery Purba S., Yulianti A., Astana S., Deden Djaenudin R., Hariyadi, Maruli Timothy Vincent Simandjorang B., Haradongan F., Istriningsih

The agricultural sector is annually included in the top three after the manufacturing sector and wholesale and retail trade sectors as Indonesia’s largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP). The average contribution of the agricultural sector to the country’s income is around 11–13% of total GDP. The GRDP of the agricultural sector (AgriGRDP) is an indicator of the economic growth of Indonesia’s agricultural sector. This study aims to examine the contribution of plantation crop production (PPC), food crop production (PFC), horticultural crop production (PHC), and farmer terms of trade (FTT) to the AgriGRDP. This study uses secondary data sourced from BPS-Statistics Indonesia. This research method uses panel data regression analysis with time series data for 2018–2021 and cross-sectional data from 33 provinces in Indonesia, resulting in 132 observations. The results of this study found that the best econometric model to answer the research objectives is the random effect model (REM). The findings of this study indicate that simultaneously and partially, the variables PPC, PFC, PHC, and FTT have a significant positive effect on AgriGRDP. An increase in PPC, PFC, PHC, and FTT will increase Indonesia’s AgriGRDP.

Sundram P.

This article examines the progress, challenges and future of food security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of ASEAN food systems, exacerbating existing challenges and vulnerabilities. With a focus on addressing the pressing issue of ensuring sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food for its growing population, the article explores the multifaceted challenges of food security faced by ASEAN. It emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to address the impact of climate change, investment in rural infrastructure and agricultural research, and the promotion of sustainable and inclusive agriculture for ASEAN’s long-term food security. It also underscores the importance of collaboration with international partners and organizations to leverage expertise and resources. Overall, this article calls to action policymakers, stakeholders and external partners to collectively work toward achieving food security and sustainable development in the region.

Yang J., Wang F., Guo F., Chen D.

Quibria M.G.

Arifah K.F., Kim J.

The agriculture sector has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Indonesia, agriculture is the most cultivated sector, especially in rural areas. During the COVID-pandemic, agriculture survived and positively contributed to economic growth. In light of this, this study aimed to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural export and also the impact of agriculture export during the COVID-19 pandemic on economic growth. We also give some recommendations on ways to enhance agriculture export performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indonesia agricultural export quarterly panel data from the years 2012 to 2021 were analyzed with the 2SLS regression model. Agriculture export was used as an endogenous variable and the COVID-19 pandemic was used as a dummy variable to reflect the number of years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The empirical results demonstrate that agriculture export and the COVID-19 pandemic have positively affected economic growth. A 1% increase in agriculture export and the COVID-19 pandemic may increase economic growth by 0.69% and 0.16%, respectively. In contrast, the labor force and inflation were found to have inverse effects on economic growth. Therefore, we recommend that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture export should be used as an alternative way to increase economic growth. Policies could be developed to increase the agricultural export value.

Hutapea R.T., Prayogo Ramadhan R., Meity A.T., Ngongo Y.

More than 40 countries produce world rice, only six major exporting countries, namely India, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, Myanmar, and the United States. The availability of rice on the world market annually ranges from 39-42 million tons that 40% of it imported by Asian countries, and China imports 6 million tons per year. Retail rice prices in Japan are USD 5.20/kg, Saudi Arabia USD 2.30/kg, and in Africa around USD 1.0 / kg, higher than Indonesia. The price of medium rice offered in the world market ranges from USD 0.34 - USD 0.4 per kg, while the price of special rice is USD 1,000/ton or more. Indonesia has the opportunity to export Basmati and aromatic rice to Japan and Saudi Arabia, which purchased at high prices. This export opportunities driven by reciprocal bilateral trade. Rice export to African countries needs to be explore under bilateral trade agreements. Indonesia has chance to export rice if it is able to consistently achieve a production surplus of at least 2 million tons per year. At the stage of exports, the role of the government needed in the form of tax breaks, quality assurance certification and subsidies for the rice production process.

Chen F., Qiao G., Wang N., Zhang D.

China is still in the growth period of population urbanization; meanwhile, it is a large agricultural country where high-quality agricultural development requires a high agro-ecological efficiency level. Based on panel data from 31 provinces and cities in China from 2001 to 2020, the paper constructs an agricultural eco-efficiency evaluation index system that is more in line with China’s current agricultural production situation. Meanwhile, the undesired output super-efficiency SBM model is used to measure it. Combining the PVAR and panel Tobit models, the paper explores the effect of population urbanization on agro-ecological efficiency and the interaction mechanism in China. The results show that: (1) In the whole of China, and the western region of China in particular, agro-ecological efficiency tended to decrease during the research time, and ended up at an inefficient level. In the eastern and northeastern regions, agro-ecological efficiency has been at a moderate level for a long time, while in the central region it has fluctuated more and is now at a low level of efficiency. (2) Increases and decreases in population urbanization have both had a significant negative impact on agro-ecological efficiency, but the economic development and improved transportation infrastructure brought by population urbanization have had a positive impact on agro-ecological efficiency. (3) The paper’s results provide the current agro-ecological efficiency situation in each province of China, and clarify the causal effect of population urbanization on agro-ecological efficiency, which can provide a reference basis for subsequent policy formulation and for further research to be carried out.

Tzachor A., Richards C.E., Jeen S.

Digital twins can transform agricultural production systems and supply chains, curbing greenhouse gas emissions, food waste and malnutrition. However, the potential of these advanced virtualization technologies is yet to be realized. Here, we consider the promise of digital twins across six typical agrifood supply chain steps and emphasize key implementation barriers.

Pham N.V.

At present Vietnam, according to key economic and socially significant indicators, can be confidently attributed to dynamically developing states. Such achievements are a consequence of the sustainable development strategy consistently implemented by the public administration sector. The global modernization of the national economy of the country has brought significant results that can definitely be attributed to the experience of best practices. In general terms, characterizing the main features of the Vietnamese economy, one should single out the predominant share of agriculture, export orientation, including agricultural products, the intensity of GDP growth, the flexibility of authorities in regulating macroeconomic processes, etc. Given the agrarian orientation of the Vietnamese economy, the chosen course with an emphasis on agricultural industrialization and modernization contributed to the achievement of socially significant results in this industry. In this study, a detailed analysis of the main trends in the development of agriculture is carried out, an interpretation of the results is presented, problem areas are identified that do not allow taking a leading position among the countries of Southeast Asia in the export of agricultural products. The main directions of the agrarian policy implemented by the government of Vietnam are systematized, which are aimed at strengthening the competitive position of the state in the context of ongoing permanent institutional changes.

Marwanto S., Pangestu F.

Abstract The pandemic of COVID-19 has a significant potential impact on the world, especially related to the food shortages. President of Indonesia, Mr. JokoWidodo instruct his boards to create a program in order to face potential food crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic. The goal of this project is to build an integrated food agriculture area as we called Food Estate. The province of Central Kalimantan could be one option to become the national of food barn because it has a potential area to be developed in alluvial area on ex-Peatland Development (PLG) land. This program is collaboration between severalinstitutions In Indonesia included private sector in order to create Integrated Food Estate Program. There are several studies conducted by some institution related to the land use analysis and suitability of Ex-PLG area. Previous study from Master Plan of Ex-PLG area in 2008, Quick Strategic Study by the Ministry of Environmental and Forestry, and delineation data from the Ministry of Public Work and Housing result an area covering around 165,000 ha that suitable for agriculture development. Regardless of its promising program, potential threats and challenges must be considered. This paper will focus on explaining the effectiveness of the program in order to achieve food security In Indonesia.

Amin C., Mulyati H., Anggraini E., Kusumastanto T.

The efficiency of logistics is a determinant in developing trade cooperation between regions. Many areas in the eastern part of Indonesia have a flawed logistics system that results in a low level of competitiveness. The paper analyses local ports’ performance and maritime logistics impact on the small island economy in East Indonesia, especially in the North Maluku Province. The research method used the survey and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis to measure each local port's performance in which Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) per capita constitutes the output variable. While GRDP, number of cargo throughput, number of port labor, inland connection, loading and unloading tariff, and sea freight cost are input variables. The results show that the loading and unloading tariffs and sea transportation costs harm the GRDP per capita of the respective small island districts. Other findings suggest that the port of Morotai, Central Halmahera, North Halmahera, and Ternate have a higher level of technical efficiency than those in East Halmahera, South Halmahera, Sula, and Tidore. Low port efficiency can disrupt the distribution of goods between islands, resulting in higher logistics costs. The limited data and the small scope of the area is the restriction of the study.

Yang X., Shu L., Chen J., Ferrag M.A., Wu J., Nurellari E., Huang K.

With the deep combination of both modern information technology and traditional agriculture, the era of agriculture 4.0, which takes the form of smart agriculture, has come. Smart agriculture provides solutions for agricultural intelligence and automation. However, information security issues cannot be ignored with the development of agriculture brought by modern information technology. In this paper, three typical development modes of smart agriculture (precision agriculture, facility agriculture, and order agriculture) are presented. Then, 7 key technologies and 11 key applications are derived from the above modes. Based on the above technologies and applications, 6 security and privacy countermeasures (authentication and access control, privacy-preserving, blockchain-based solutions for data integrity, cryptography and key management, physical countermeasures, and intrusion detection systems) are summarized and discussed. Moreover, the security challenges of smart agriculture are analyzed and organized into two aspects: 1) agricultural production, and 2) information technology. Most current research projects have not taken agricultural equipment as potential security threats. Therefore, we did some additional experiments based on solar insecticidal lamps Internet of Things, and the results indicate that agricultural equipment has an impact on agricultural security. Finally, more technologies (5 G communication, fog computing, Internet of Everything, renewable energy management system, software defined network, virtual reality, augmented reality, and cyber security datasets for smart agriculture) are described as the future research directions of smart agriculture.

Mizik T.

Abstract During the past decades, agricultural trade is enormously expanded. One of its driving factors is the World Trade Organization. However, regional agreements can give further trade opportunities for the participating countries. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of them. This article aims to give a detailed overview of ASEAN members’ agri-food trade by using the world and regional level data. The country level competitiveness is calculated by four different Balassa-type indices and highlights whether the agri-food trade (practice) of these countries is in line with the revealed comparative advantages/competitiveness of the different product groups (theory). According to the results, commodities with the highest comparative advantages overlap with the most important export products. This confirms a tight connection between theory and practice. It should also be noted that world level values are generally higher than that of the regional levels. Moreover, countries with significant agri-food production (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia) can be characterized by higher comparative advantages compared to the other ASEAN member states. These results can help to better understand these countries’ trade specialization and international trade performance.

Sharma A., Jain A., Gupta P., Chowdary V.

Agriculture plays a vital role in the economic growth of any country. With the increase of population, frequent changes in climatic conditions and limited resources, it becomes a challenging task to fulfil the food requirement of the present population. Precision agriculture also known as smart farming have emerged as an innovative tool to address current challenges in agricultural sustainability. The mechanism that drives this cutting edge technology is machine learning (ML). It gives the machine ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. ML together with IoT (Internet of Things) enabled farm machinery are key components of the next agriculture revolution. In this article, authors present a systematic review of ML applications in the field of agriculture. The areas that are focused are prediction of soil parameters such as organic carbon and moisture content, crop yield prediction, disease and weed detection in crops and species detection. ML with computer vision are reviewed for the classification of a different set of crop images in order to monitor the crop quality and yield assessment. This approach can be integrated for enhanced livestock production by predicting fertility patterns, diagnosing eating disorders, cattle behaviour based on ML models using data collected by collar sensors, etc. Intelligent irrigation which includes drip irrigation and intelligent harvesting techniques are also reviewed that reduces human labour to a great extent. This article demonstrates how knowledge-based agriculture can improve the sustainable productivity and quality of the product.

Apriliyanti I.D., Kusumasari B., Pramusinto A., Setianto W.A.

PurposeThis study addresses the critical factors that contribute to the success of e-government programs in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states (AMS). We investigate the factors that play key roles in e-government adoption and implementation in AMS that stem from multiple dimensions.Design/methodology/approachOur qualitative study on eight ASEAN countries with different political situations and economic developments suggests that in general, institutions (formal and informal institutions), resources, leadership, organizational design and culture values determine the success of e-government.FindingsThe provision of adequate information and communication technology infrastructure alone is insufficient to ensure the success of e-government.Research limitations/implicationsOur findings lead to a conceptual framework of factors that drive the success of e-government projects that advances the literature on e-government, particularly the research about e-government in the context of developing countries.Originality/valueAn empirical evidence and in-depth understanding suggest that different factors are associated with detrimental impacts on e-government implementation.

Tian Y., Zhou Y.

This study aims to investigate the coupling coordination relationship between digital village construction and high-quality agricultural development in China, along with influencing factors, in order to provide policy recommendations for fostering the concurrent advancement of these two domains. Utilizing coupling coordination degree model, spatial econometric model and other methods, this paper analyzes the panel data of 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China spanning from 2011 to 2022. The key findings indicate the following: Firstly, there has been an overall enhancement in the levels of digital village construction and high-quality agricultural development across all Chinese provinces, with the eastern region exhibiting a higher developmental status compared to the central and western regions. Secondly, the coupling coordination degree has shown a collective improvement, albeit with variations in coordination levels among different regions; however, the regional disparities are gradually narrowing. Thirdly, the level of economic development and agricultural financial expenditure emerges as significant factors influencing the degree of coupling coordination, demonstrating not only direct positive effects but also positive spatial spillover effects. Finally, this study proposes recommendations to promote sustainable agricultural development, such as setting up agricultural technology innovation platforms, establishing digital agricultural production bases, and training farmers in digital skills in order to mitigate regional disparities and foster mutual advancement across all regions.