An agronomist checks the growth of rice seedlings at an intelligent seedling plant in Southwest China’s Chongqing on March 27, 2023. The plant has a greenhouse area of 4,608 square meters, capable of growing 800 hectares of rice seedlings a year. Photo: VCG

China launched a national big data platform for the entire rice industry chain on Sunday, the first of its kind in the country, aiming to promote the digitization and information construction of the sector.

The platform focuses on the generation, collection, storage, processing, analysis and service of rice industry data to open up the whole industry chain of production, storage, marketing, trade, consumption, and science and technology; deepen the application of big data in the rice industry, and promote the digitization and information construction of China's rice industry, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

After the launch and application of the platform, authoritative rice-related index reports will be released regularly to improve the overall service level and ability of the industry, Xu Chunchun, deputy director of the Rice Science &Technology Information Center at the China National Rice Research Institute, was quoted as saying.

"In the future, it will be upgraded from a data platform to a service platform to create a rice digital ecosystem with full coverage of digital production, full transformation of scientific and technological capabilities, and full connectivity of service networks," said Xu.

The rice industry big data platform will have five analysis models, 10 business application systems, one comprehensive portal and a mobile app, in a bid to realize scientific analysis of different business scenarios, according to chinanews.com.

For example, the platform can help guide rice production to prevent diseases, pests and natural disasters through statistical analysis, said Xu.

The launch event of the platform was held on Sunday in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, which was also the site of the 2023 China Seed Congress and Nanfan Agricultural Silicon Valley Forum.

Photo taken on April 2, 2023 shows the exhibition of the 2023 China Seed Congress and Nanfan Agricultural Silicon Valley Forum held in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province. Photo: Xinhua

Global Times