Technology was crucial in various industries, including farming, in the digital transformation era. Thus, it became really important for the farmers to have good digital alliteration to utilize the technology, as it would help them improve their farmlands. Realizing the importance of digital literacy, Yayasan Bina Tani Sejahtera (YBTS) wanted to give special training for farmers in the area without exposure to accurate information and technology.

In September 2022, one of YBTS’ technical field officers, Veni Astri, introduced SIPINDO to nineteen farmers in Biak Numfor, Papua. SIPINDO was an application developed to assist farmers in the farming process. In this program, Veni trained the farmers to utilize SIPINDO as a learning and farming platform. Some of the features that farmers could use were farming process, Tanamanku, fertilizers recommendations, pest management, rainfall prediction, and many more. SIPINDO also allowed the farmers to have direct consultations with farming experts.

The training given by YBTS received a good response from the local farmers, who were enthusiastic to learn more about SIPINDO. According to the farmers, SIPINDO could help them in developing their farmlands. “We can easily learn more about pests and how to manage them. Before we use SIPINDO, we need to wait for the chance to ask our trainer about it,” said one of the farmers.

Other than training, Veni also introduced and distributed Dewata, a superior variant of chili seeds. The seeds distribution was a form of YBTS’ support toward the program initiated by the government to achieve food security. We hope that the existence of SIPINDO and the chili seeds we provided could help increase the farmers’ productivity and fulfill Biak Numfor’s market needs for chili.