International Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and Plantation, Vol. 10 (Sept) ISSN 2462-1757 2020 349 IMPLEMENTATION OF FERTILIZER VARIABLE RATE TECHNOLOGY (VRT) OF RICE PRECISION FARMING IN FELCRA SEBERANG PERAK Mohd Shahril Shah Mohamad Ghazali*, Mohamad Aufa Mhd. Bookeri, Badril Abu Bakar, Ahmad Safuan Bujang, Mohd Nadzim Nordin, Teoh Chin Chuang, Mohd Shahmihaizan Mat Jusoh, Mohd Taufik Ahmad, Mohd Khusairy Khadzir, Mohamed Fauzi Md. Isa, Mohamad Haniff Ahmad, Mohamad Fakhrul Zaman Omar, Eddy Herman Sharu, Nurul Syakira Samsuri Engineering Research Centre (ER) Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Email: shahril@mardi.gov.my Mohd Syaifudin Abd. Rahman, Corporate Communication Centre (CC) Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Email: saifudin@mardi.gov.my Muhammad Naim Fadzli Abd. Rani, Mohd Fitri Masarudin, Siti Norsuha Misman, Chong Tet Vun, Elixson Sunian Paddy and Rice Research Centre (PR) Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Email: naim@mardi.gov.my Norlida Mohamed Hamim Agro-Biodiversity and Environment Research Centre (BE) Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Email: norlida@mardi.gov.my Hairazi Abdul Rahim Socio-Economy, Market Intelligent and Agribusiness Research Centre (ES) Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Email: hairazi@mardi.gov.my ABSTRACT The management of variability is a very important aspect of precision farming in order to achieve optimum production costs and yields in rice production. It starts from the land preparation, seeding, crops care and maintenance until harvested by farmers. Each process has a unique requirement for managing existing field variability. The use of chemical inputs for the crop care process, such as fertilizer application in rice production, has become crucial activities that need more attention. At present, the conventional application of fertiliser is applied at a blanked rate without taking into account crop parameters that have spoiled the nutrient uptake of the crop. The right amount of fertilizer at the right time and at specific location will help farmers to save production costs and more environmentally friendly by reducing the use of fertilizer inputs. For this reason, MARDI has developed variable rate technology (VRT) for the use of fertilizer application as a solution for farmers. The technology is being implemented for three (3) seasons in FELCRA seberang perak. The study showed that the amount of input was reduced by 11.9 percent compared to the conventional fertilizer application by the adoption of VRT fertilizer. It also reduced the number of workers involved in the application of fertilizer by 50 percent, which was reflected in the reduction of the cost of production. It is also expected that this study will make a contribution to rice players and industry as a new agricultural technology to Industrial revolution (IR 4.0) that is currently being researched in Malaysia. Key words: variable rate technology, fertilizer application, green area index, location specific INTRODUCTION The average national yield of rice in Malaysia is around 4.5 ton per hectare and the national level of self-sufficiency (SSL) is less than 75 percent. Efficient management of fertilizers is one of the key factors contributing to the high productivity of submerged rice growing systems. The awareness and interest in improving the efficiency of the use of nutrients has increased among the players in the agricultural sector and rice industry specifically. Driven by the environmental belief that crop nutrients are excessive in the environment and that farmers are concerned about rising fertilizer prices and stagnant crop prices, there is a new wave of pressure to improve the efficiency of nutrient use and technologies related for inputs applications. Precision farming has therefore come across as saviours in this situation by manipulating temporal and spatial variabilities. Variable rate fertilizers in precision farming is a nutrient management approach that considers the amount of fertilizer to be used on the basis of soil fertility, soil type, field level, puddling, water management, pests and diseases (Abu Hassan, 2004; Chan, 2013).