Preliminary study on Smart farming literacy: A case study in Barp gewog, Punakha District, Bhutan

Abstract

Smart agriculture is just beginning to emerge and there are only a few instances of the use of smart technologies in Bhutan. This study aimed to understand the farming activity, their ability and experience with smart farming for designing appropriate learning tools for farmers to enhance agricultural production. Fifty respondents (34 females and 16 male) from Barp gewog (block), Punakha District were randomly selected and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire the findings showed that the majority (56 %) used smartphones, among them 52 % used for communication and 32 % for taking photos. Radio and TV were the sources of information on the weather forecast (86 %), and agricultural-related information (70 %). More than 80% of respondents fall below the basic level in all aspects of digital literacy. For the management of crops, 72 % applied both chemical and organic fertilizers, 26 % used organic fertilizers and 2 % used chemical fertilizers to maintain soil fertility. Many adopted mechanical ways (85.7%) to manage pest and disease and manual weeding (76%) to manage weeds in the field the Majority (86%) of the respondents directly sold produce to consumers in the market and no webpage were used to sell their agricultural products the majority (92 %) did not have a business model to sale agricultural product and none used software or technology to plan for business. Besides, none of the respondents had adopted smart farming technology nor had any experience with smart farming. In conclusion, farmers have limited knowledge on the use of smart technology for agriculture.