Challenges of Digital Solutions in Sugarcane Crop Production: A Review

Abstract

Over the years, agricultural management practices are being improved as they integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Precision Agriculture tools. Regarding sugarcane crop production, this integration aims to reduce production cost, enhance input applications, and allow communication among different hardware and datasets, improving system sustainability. Sugarcane mechanization has some particularities that mandate the development of custom solutions based on digital tools, which are being applied globally in different crops. Digital mechanization can be conceived as the application of digital tools on mechanical operation. This review paper addresses different digital solutions that have contributed towards the mechanization of sugarcane crop production. The process of digitalization and transformation in agriculture and its related operations to sugarcane are presented, highlighting important ICT applications such as real-time mechanical operations monitoring and integration among operations, demonstrating their contributions and limitations regarding management efficiency. In addition, this article presents the major challenges to overcome and possible guidance on research to address these issues, i.e., poor communication technologies available, need for more focus on field and crop data, and lack of data interoperability among mechanized systems.