CHANGCHUN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A projector-like box installed with a camera moves along a monorail set up under the roof of a pig shed, while cameras at its base scan the pigs and gather key information on the livestock.
The system is in place in a pig farm of Jingqishen Organic Agriculture Co., Ltd. (JOA) in Fusong County in northeast China's Jilin Province.
The inspection cameras can gather information such as how long the pig has been raised, its weight and epidemic prevention status, according to Zhang Yuanzheng, deputy general manager of JOA.
They also detect the level of nitrogen in the shed to indicate when to clean up pig feces, saving unnecessary work. In the past, a keeper managed around 200 pigs, now the number has quadrupled, Zhang said.
"The data can also aid researchers in adjusting the nutrition formula for the pigs to improve the pork quality," he added.
Zhang said the application of the equipment can help save millions of yuan for the company. The system is a collaboration between JOA and JD Digits, which has also experimented on the application of facial recognition in pig farming since 2017.
China raises the largest number of pigs in the world with the northeast region being a major pig farming base, accounting for around 6 percent of the global total.
Large farms like the one run by JOA can produce 200,000 pigs a year, and the company estimates that about 12 million yuan (1.74 million U.S. dollars) can be saved each year by applying the smart technology.
In recent years, many Chinese technology giants have invested in technologies to make agriculture smarter and boost income for traditional farmers.
Alibaba announced its ET Agricultural Brain last year, which can digitally record production details to help regulate production and boost quality and capacity.
Internet giant Tencent is co-hosting this year's Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge, which explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can produce greenhouse-grown vegetables more efficiently and effectively.
China's smart farming market may reach 26.8 billion dollars in 2020 from 13.7 billion dollars in 2015, reaching an annual compound rate of 14.3 percent, according to a 2017 report by Huawei X Labs.
"Currently, the pig raising market is dominated by smaller pig farms with extensive production models," said Zhang Shumin, a researcher at the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, adding that AI technology poses a higher cost and is more suitable in large farms.
"It is a trend," said Zhang, "but we still have to look at specific cases for its application."
