Leading geospatial intelligence AI technology firm Dabeeo on Monday commenced its latest AI monitoring project of palm oil farms in Indonesia, covering an area that is larger than the South Korean capital of Seoul.
The company inked a deal with Tunas Sawa Erma Group, one of Indonesia's major palm oil producers, for the project, spanning across a total of 765 square kilometers.
"While high-precision satellite imagery is commonly used for military and IT purposes, cases like this one, applied in agriculture, are quite rare. This case demonstrates the expanding utility of satellite imagery across various domains, with Dabeeo leading the way," said Ju Hum Park, CEO of Dabeeo.
"At a time when there are no prominent players in the farm monitoring business, our strategic entry into the market through the recent contract with TSE Group enables us to accelerate business activation in order to expand our market share significantly in the future," he added.
The latest deal marks an expansion for the Dabeeo's ongoing palm oil farm monitoring projects, which begin in Malaysia last year. Indonesia and Malaysia reportedly produce up to 80 percent of the world's palm supply, and the company hopes to use their recent deals in the two countries as a stepping stone for expanding its business even further.
Dabeeo's latest partner, TSE Group, has been operating a palm oil business in Indonesia for almost three decades. The South Korean company's officials said their partnership can be a "a strong signal of Dabeeo's entry into the Indonesian market."
Dabeeo plans to use AI analysis and ultra-high-resolution satellite imagery to significantly reduce the workload required in the current method of palm oil farm monitoring, which requires extensive manual labor and drone footage.
According to the company, its top-tier 30-cm-resolution satellite imagery can provide comprehensive coverage of vast areas in a single snapshot, which is possible through collaboration with commercial satellite providers like Airbus and Maxar. Officials said Dabeeo achieves over 99.5 percent accuracy in detecting palm tree objects and over 90 percent accuracy in classifying their health status.
Using such methods allows early detection of any deviation such as diseased trees, providing essential data for yield predictions.
Dabeeo aims to extend its collaboration with TSE Group to include nutrient analysis, identifying nutrient deficiencies in individual trees through satellite imagery to optimize fertilization plans, potentially revolutionizing palm oil farm operations.
To provide the analyzed data for easy access of the users, Dabeeo has been developing a platform for monitoring Indonesian palm oil farms in collaboration with TSE Group since 2023. The platform is based on Dabeeo's "Dabeeo Eartheye," recognized at CES 2022 as an innovative satellite image-based AI analysis platform.
The main focus was ensuring rapid access to large data volumes even in areas with poor internet connectivity, given that most palm oil farms are located in areas with limited internet access.
The company said the platform now enables uninterrupted access even at 12 Mbps (approximately 1/14th of the average speed in South Korea), allowing farm managers to take immediate action on-site. By deploying resources accurately and efficiently, such as timely labor force allocation to problem areas, the platform enhances overall farm operations.
Transitioning from systems accessible only to GIS experts to a web-based platform accessible to all organization members enhances the effectiveness of farm monitoring across TSE Group.
