THE NATIONAL Electronics and Computer Technology Center(NECTEC) plans to focus on seven areas as it tries to create the prototype model for agricultural-data integration and zoning optimisation.
Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn, who was appointed executive director of NECTEC in March, said the state agency planned to utilise research and development for the benefit of government, communities and the private sector. The seven categories on which this R&D will focus are food and agriculture, manufacturing, service industry, energy and environment, community and the disabled, healthcare and medical services, and security.
The zoning optimisation project follows the government’s plan to offer farmers incentives for planning crops best suited to their land. With proper zoning, farmers should be able to utilise their land efficiently, cultivating crops that meet market demand.
“I think that in the first year [of the project], NECTEC will able to develop a prototype model for agricultural-data integration and zoning to help farmers plant crops suitable to their location, such as rice, corn, soybean, sugar cane and pineapple. As a result, the government will be able to register all farmers in the nation for the purpose of agricultural-data integration, and it will able to improve their land-use plans to improve farmers’ quality of life in the next step,” Sarun said.
He added that the agency would conduct R&D to support the country’s development in three areas: hardware, software, and information-technology infrastructure.
In the first area, NECTEC will provide R&D to support smart- factory automation, virtual product design, plastic electronics, and green IT. The second area will focus on software as a service (SaaS), mobile applications, semantic technology, search engines, and the Internet of Things.
Last, the IT infrastructure will support cloud computing and security.
Reference : JIRAPAN BOONNOON. 2014. Nectec project aims to optimise agricultural zoning. The Nation. 13 November 2014, p. 4B