The ageing of the population and the lack of young people entering the sector to update themselves have led to the abandonment of farms and the fallow of fields.
Naturally, the Japanese government has become aware of the demographic problem, because it does not only deal with the agricultural sector.
In line with this action plan, SAP Japan has joined forces to inspire rural communities to prosper by launching a co-innovation task with PSI, a SAP partner, and the Minano city government.
The small town of Minano is located in the hills of Saitama Prefecture, about two hours from Tokyo. Formerly the center of the silk industry, the region is on average sunny and warm, but can get a lot of snow in winter.
“The big supermarkets and stores are neglecting them.
Today it has around 10,000 inhabitants.
“Other young people migrate to urban spaces in search of greater opportunities for education and employment,” Horiguchi says.
Digitalization is an apparent technique that could save all the depopulation of these areas.
“But although large-scale farms gain advantages from the economic viability of applying robotics and the like, it is financially and logistically complicated to apply such technologies to small-scale and dispersed farms,” says Horiguchi.
Horiguchi, who owns a car portion production company, co-founded the local initiative MINNANO Future Create in 2019 to solve the demanding situations arising from population loss. Its members range from seniors to young residents, forming a varied organization of people, adding pharmacists. , architects, and other professions, all living in the city.
For one of their projects, Minano Digital Eco-Farm, they partnered with the SAP Co-Innovation Lab in Japan.
The task of Minano Digital Eco Farm aims to create a communication platform that links farmers and urban citizens and links small and dispersed farms to primary chains, forming a portfolio that coexists with existing large-scale farms.
To make this vision a reality, IoT sensors were distributed to other sites and controlled remotely from headquarters.
The Minano Digital Eco Farm mission aims to build a communication platform that connects farmers and city dwellers.
“The idea is to have an IoT solution running on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) that would help monitor all agricultural processes,” explains Atsushi Minakuchi, senior solutions specialist at SAP Co-Innovation Lab (COIL) at JapanArray.
And thanks to the cooperation with SAP Co-Innovation Lab, DMC also received SAP certification.
“Many IoT sensors lack cybersecurity features,” says Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, senior advisor and former president of PSI.
“The collaboration with COIL has greatly expanded the possibilities of DMC implementation,” says Masaki Fukui, former director of PSI’s cybersecurity lab and now at the Ministry of Interior and Communications. “Global SAP users can now have the ability to implement and use a ubiquitous source chain platform through the combination of DMC and SAP Business Technology Platform.
Thanks to integration with SAP Business Technology Platform, deployment locations can be displayed and monitored on a dashboard.
So far, two proofs of concept for farms have been completed between March 2019 and November 2022, as well as a proof-of-concept for a miso factory.
As a corporate social task, Minano Digital Eco Farm came about thanks to the voluntary commitment of SAP employees in Japan who supported the task in addition to their regular work.
The allocation is made through a government program unique to Japan, the Hometown Tax Payment, which allows citizens to decide the region in which they were born and raised or a network in which they wish to participate.
“The option of paying local taxes is very popular among the Japanese,” explains Hidenori Kurosawa, deputy governor of Minano. “For us in rural areas, it turns out to have played a vital role in creating interest in the countryside.
In fact, the appeal of small, sparsely populated communities surrounded by beautiful forest landscapes has become apparent among inland Japanese tourists.
Kurosawa says, “We want to make visitors horny in Minano by offering gifts that offer an experience, that allow visitors to come to the city, interact with the locals, and enjoy things unique to this place.
The assignment of Minano Digital Eco Farm fits well with this strategy. Not only does it bring the charm of Minano but, through expanding initiatives, it responds to demanding local situations such as the rehabilitation of deserted agricultural land, the expansion of food self-sufficiency, the reduction of CO2 emissions and the achievement of improved profitability of agriculture.
“We are very hopeful that this initiative will address the city’s demanding situations and advance the SDGs,” says Kurosawa, adding, “We express our sincere gratitude to the SAP Japan volunteers who provided invaluable assistance in carrying out the Minano Digital Eco Farm project. “live. “
“MINNANO” means “for everyone” in Japanese and is pronounced the same as the city’s call.