The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry vows to launch more initiatives to modernise traditional agriculture, creating greater economic impact and paving the way for big data in farming.
The One Tambon, One Digital (Otod) community drone project has generated more than 20 billion baht in economic value in the first year of operation.
The community drone project helps farmers cut costs, increase income and create jobs. The project is operated by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa).
Pantanu Wannagangsai, advisor to the DES minister, said Depa recently announced two new initiatives, Otod Smart Living and Otod Digital Durian, using technology to enhance the quality of life and agriculture, while embracing a digital economy and society.
The Smart Living effort promotes safety and environmental technologies in 45 communities across eight provinces, while Digital Durian enables durian farmers to use digital platforms for traceability and data management, helping more than 6,000 durian farming households.
Mr Pantanu said the ministry has been promoting growth based on three pillars: competitiveness, safety and security, and human capital.
The efforts aim to reinforce the country's digital economy and society by promoting the application of digital technology across all sectors, particularly in agriculture, which forms the foundation of the economy, he said.
"The use of digital technology in agriculture enables farmers and communities to achieve self-reliance and boosts the country's competitiveness," said Mr Pantanu.
Agricultural drones are a vital tool in transforming traditional farming into modern agriculture.
Depa president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the drone project has advanced digital infrastructure, the digital ecosystem and manpower development.
The project established drone training centres in five locations nationwide and promotes drone technology development.
The initiative's platform provides a system for certifying unmanned aircraft training courses and oversees agricultural drone standards, verified under the Made in Thailand mark and Depa dSURE certification.
The drone project promotes the adoption of drone technology to reduce costs and increase farmers' incomes across five regions.
The scheme upgrades local mechanics to repair agricultural drones, forming a network of 500 agricultural drone-user communities.
The project trained 100 agricultural drone repair technicians and 1,500 agricultural drone pilots, surpassing the initial goal of 1,000 pilots.
This initiative improved the lives of 10,000 farming households, generating more than 20 billion baht in economic value, according to Depa.
Mr Nuttapon said the projects will eventually lead to the establishment of big data for agriculture.
Depa is also advancing e-commerce knowledge and supporting applications for certifications such as Good Agricultural Practices to enhance the quality of life for Thai farmers and the agricultural sector, he said.