Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Chi-Hsiung Lai, Ching-Hsiang Yang, Bang-Hua Chen, Chih-Sheng Chen, Chia-Jen Liu, Lit-Fu Chan and Hsiu-Ying Lu

Abstract:

Precision agriculture is a new technology developed during early 1980’s. As a management strategy, it determines the economical and reasonable input, gains the greatest return to the producer and the least impact on the environment. It is a necessary outcome of agricultural development. To comply with the world trend and rebuild a new fact for Taiwan, we conducted a pilot project ‘Studies on Precision Farming System for Rice’ at Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute. A 10.83 ha rice paddy field was set up for functioning and operating precision farming. The field was composed of 164 adjacent blocks each with area of 25mÎ25m. Farmland is basal while proper management is essential to the success of precision agriculture. In order to lower the production cost and enhance the compatibility of the crop, this proposal concerned the adoption of improved mechanization techniques, modernized information system, and improved farm management skills to the large- scale culture of rice. During the two crop seasons in 2000, the present farm management could satisfy the requirement of precision agriculture. The heterogeneous feature of yield map adequately reflected the productivity variation due to variety, planting time, climate, soil, earthquake and preceding crops. It is concluded that this proposal could lead to development of the potential system.

Key words:Precision agriculture, Rice, Yield map

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