Deqing, the only pilot county for digital agriculture in East China's Zhejiang province, is now home to 3,500 demonstration sites for IoT application in agriculture. [Photo/WeChat account:huzhoufabu]

The application of digital technologies including big data, cloud computing, and the internet of things (IoT) in agriculture has gained traction in Deqing county, Huzhou.

Shen Yuchao, who has spent nearly half of his life as a farmer, didn't expect the internet technologies would reshape his work.

The data related to humidity, temperature, and pests can be retrieved in real time thanks to the sensors installed in the rice fields, Shen explained.

He will be alerted via his cellphone if something goes wrong. "Now crops can be planted at fingertips," he said 

A similar change has also occurred to Shen Yunjian, a fish farmer in Quxi village, Zhongguan town, Deqing county, making him feel at ease to farm fish for the first time during the past 15 years.

Through an app, Shen can monitor the situation of ponds in real time, including dissolved oxygen and water temperature.

In addition, the output has also expanded due to the digital transformation. According to Shen, the output of fish ponds contracted by him increased from 20,000 kilograms to more than 50,000 kilograms last year.

Deqing, the only pilot county for digital agriculture in East China's Zhejiang province, has to date constructed 3,500 demonstration sites for IoT application in agriculture and is striving to complete the digital transformation of agricultural production within its jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, digitalization has also been reshaping rural governance in the county.

Local authorities have come up with a pattern in which a village is managed through a map based on technologies like big data and IoT.

The information, including time, location, transportation, garbage classification, and sewage treatment, can be displayed on the map and updated in real time, according to Zhao Fangzheng, deputy head of the Deqing Big Data Development Bureau.