IRGA

Today, agritech is facilitating plantation owners' and farmers’ to address pain points by improving three primary aspects: time, quality, and cost. Farmers benefit from automation and mechanisation because it saves them time and reduces their reliance on foreign workers. As a result of enhanced labour productivity and technological integration, crop production and quality improve. Plantation owners and farmers benefit from increased pricing premiums as a result of cost reductions. Against this backdrop, IRGA merges extensive data analytics, field research, and product development expertise to optimise the use of technologies through an integrated digital platform to boost plantation and farm productivity, create new economy jobs, address global food security challenges, and ensure food sustainability for future generations.

With the Industry 4.0 influencing the evolution of the agriculture and food industries, IRGA is itself positioning as a 4IR application and service provider with a Hybrid ATaaS Business Model that includes Software-as-a- Service (SaaS) and Equipment-as-a-Service (EaaS). SaaS is a digital cloud-based platform that includes plantation management, artificial intelligence, an integrated dashboard, predictive analytics, and a marketplace for services and products. The latter provides pay-per-use technology hardware such as robotics and demonstration farms that are coupled with software systems, as well as the possibility of outright purchase. Due to economies of scale, such a model allows for the more convenient deployment of 4IR agricultural technologies in plantation and farming activities at a lower cost. The use of blockchain technology in the supply chain is another hallmark of IRGA. Every piece of data in the chain is completely transparent and unchangeable. This solution promotes stakeholder confidence by establishing accountability for food source traceability.

IRGA’s iPLANT is an integrated plantation operations and management platform. iPLANT delivers a comprehensive aerial view of all plantation operations, as well as a full suite of reporting resources that leverage cloud technology to provide comprehensive business insights on field, mill, and weighbridge activities. iPLANT pulls together the necessary components of a plantations company into one centralised system for real-time reporting that enables business choices to capitalise on a precision agricultural technology platform, using powerful business intelligence and IoT based data collection technologies.

One of the stellar products of IRGA is HARVi - connected & battery-powered harvesting palm cutter that connects to the internet. HARVi transforms the oil palm tree trimming and harvesting process, increasing harvester productivity by up to 4x. Years of study and development, as well as Kingoya Technology, have gone into this latest iteration of HARVi. It's been put through extensive testing and updates to improve ergonomics, resulting in the lightest-in-class, zero-emissions battery-powered mechanised harvesting equipment on the market. HARVi can send harvesting data to a smartphone app or a plantation operations and management platform for decision-making and monitoring.

Furthermore, IRGA’s ENVi is a multi-sensor Internet of Things weather station that collects material environmental data on crop conditions in the field. ENVi is able to gather up information on wind movement, lighting exposure, ground pH levels, and a variety of other essential climate insights using a mix of weather and soil sensors, allowing planters and farmers to better plan for planting and harvesting activities. ENVi sends data directly to the iPLANT system for easy access and display, giving managers specific information about environmental conditions that they may utilise to improve the quality of fresh commodities produced and increase yield production rates. Also, URBI- an IRGA-developed Organoponix smart farming solution that encourages people in densely crowded regions to grow and produce their own food. IRGA offers Harvesting as a Service (HaaS) to clients, in which we provide skilled labour for designated harvesting work. The workforce will be trained to use proprietary harvesting equipment and clients will be charged based on the MT of palm oil harvested.

In a nutshell, IRGA extend solutions to planters, farmers and smallholders facing challenges from rising costs of inputs & supplies, a shortage of labour and changes to consumer preferences for sustainability and traceability.