Agricultural transformation: A story about the Internet of Things

Abstract

Precision agriculture, a sustainable solution for enhancing crop productivity, utilizes enabling technologies, primarily centred around the Internet of Things (IoT), to optimize irrigation and increase crop yields by adapting farming techniques to specific conditions. This study presents the adoption of a low-cost and eco-friendly IoT initiative in rural farms in Vietnam, which is an unexpected location. It marks the country’s first IoT start-up for agriculture during the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. To answer three research questions, we conducted a contemporary case study mixed with a couple of field experiments in a real-life context to learn how an IoT application was blended with local culture to transform traditional agriculture to a modern and digitalized industry. The pilot implementation yielded promising results, with positive feedback from farmers. Following necessary modifications, the system has been widely adopted across provinces in Vietnam. The study identified three key factors contributing to the start-up’s success: ‘Thiên thời, Địa lợi, Nhân hòa’. We believe that the start-up can assist millions of local farmers to get on the 4.0 train and that adopting IoT to initiate smart agriculture in Vietnam has sent a strong message ‘To be successful, global technology has to integrate into local culture’.