Possible adoption of precision agriculture for developing countries at the threshold of the new millennium

The concept of precision agriculture, based on information technology, is becoming an attractive idea for managing natural resources and realizing modern sustainable agricultural development. It is bringing agriculture into the digital and information age. The practice has smoothly extended into some developing countries. The basic principle of managing soil and crop variability within a field is certainly not new. It was named ‘intensive and meticulous cultivation’ by the Chinese people and has been long regarded as the cream of Chinese conventional agriculture. Toward the new millennium, China is preparing to follow the experience of the developed world and is starting to investigate the new technology. This paper considers the possible adoption of precision agriculture for developing countries and ideas in conducting the practice in China.