Smart Farming for Sustainable Rice Production: An Insight into Application, Challenge, and Future Prospect

Rice is a staple food which is widely consumed by over half of the world’s population, mainly in Asian countries. It has a huge impact on the social and economic growth which is important to ensure the sustainability and better utilising of rice production. This review provides an insight into the role of smart farming which is important to enhance rice productivity. The applications of smart farming in rice production including rice yield estimation, smart rice irrigation systems, monitoring rice disease and growth as well as predicting rice quality and classifications have been highlighted. The challenges of smart farming in sustainable rice production to enhance the understanding of researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders are discussed. Numerous efforts have been exerted to combat the issues in rice production in order to promote rice sector development. The effective implementation of smart farming in rice production has been facilitated by various technical advancements, particularly the integration of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. The future prospects of smart farming in transforming existing rice production practices are also elucidated. Through the utilization of smart farming, the rice industry can attain sustainable and resilient production systems that could mitigate environmental impact and safeguard food security. Thus, the rice industry has a bright future in transforming current rice production practices into a new outlook in rice smart farming development.