NEC and Sumitomo Corporation Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement
NEC Corporation and
Sumitomo Corporation (Sumitomo) have signed a strategic partnership agreement
to expand global sales of NEC's agricultural ICT platform CropScope. Based on
this partnership, NEC and Sumitomo aim to develop markets mainly in South
America and the ASEAN region by utilizing Sumitomo's global network. To this
end, NEC will expand the range of crops from the tomato farming support it has
been focusing on and add functions to optimize and streamline a series of
processes from cultivation to harvesting and processing. Through this
partnership, CropScope is initially being introduced on a trial basis to major
sugar companies in Thailand and Brazil.
Since population
growth and economic development are projected to increase global food demand,
there are concerns that ongoing climate change will cause a serious impact on
crop production. In addition, recent pandemics and unstable global situations
have caused a sharp rise in prices of agricultural materials and stagnation of
exports, threatening the stable supply of food. Increasing agricultural
productivity is essential for ensuring food security on a global scale, and
countries where agriculture is a key industry face the challenges of upgrading
production technology and increasing the efficiency of farm management.
Summary of the Partnership
1. Expand sales of
CropScope to emerging countries
Sumitomo has a
network of regional organizations in 65 countries around the world and is
engaged in sales and distribution of agricultural materials such as agrochemicals
and fertilizers in about 40 countries. Through this partnership, Sumitomo will
utilize its global network to expand CropScope's sales area to Thailand,
Brazil, and India, aiming for business growth.
2. Expanding the
range of focus crops and integrating management from cultivation to processing
CropScope has been
expanded to support sugarcane, wheat, soybeans, and corn, as focus crops in
addition to processed tomatoes. AI functions will be applied for these new
crops, learning from past farming and harvesting data to recommend the optimal
time and amount of harvest, and a harvest planning function will be added to
manage harvest planning and results. Combining this function with the existing
optimization of fertilizer application and irrigation will enable comprehensive
management from cultivation to harvesting and processing.
Future developments
NEC has been
continuously enhancing the functionality of CropScope and collaborating with
various partners to meet the diverse needs of customers involved in
agricultural production. This partnership with Sumitomo, which has a broad
global network and extensive knowledge in the agricultural and food fields,
will be a significant milestone in the expansion of CropScope's global sales.
Sumitomo has been
focusing on developing new businesses that contribute to sustainable food
production with high efficiency and low environmental impact by utilizing
advanced technologies, in addition to expanding its existing business base in
the agriculture and food fields. One of the most important themes is smart
farming, which contributes to the realization of safe and highly efficient food
production by utilizing such technologies as automation of agricultural
operations and data analysis. This collaboration with NEC, which has
established AI technologies in agriculture and other fields, will be an
important initiative.
NEC and Sumitomo
will continue to expand the range of focus crops and functions of CropScope
while responding to issues and needs of agricultural production and processing
sites. This will be performed as part of the companies' support for
environmentally friendly and profitable farming globally, and to contribute to
sustainable agriculture and global food security.
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