A leading global provider of information and communications, Huawei Technologies has made headway in its efforts to boost modern agriculture by applying cutting-edge internet of things technology, according to the company.

The technology is based on information-sensing equipment that can memorize the real-time information of certain objects or processes and manage all the data intelligently through a systematic network.

In the field of agriculture, internet of things technology refers to monitoring the parameters of the temperature, humidity, pH balance, sunlight, soil nutrition and levels of carbon dioxide in the environment - to ensure the best growing conditions for crops.

Agriculture is the name of the game at Huawei's global innovation center at the Sea Rice Research and Development Center, in Shandong province, led by agricultural scientist Yuan Longping.

"It is the company's key initiative and responsibility to integrate state-of-the-art technologies into agriculture," said Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei.

He said that the center aims to advance the development of intelligent agriculture based on the internet of things, big data, mobile internet and cloud computing - and serve as a vital platform for pioneers in the agriculture sector.

"We are developing a system that contains a small weather station, communication modules, high definition cameras and various sensors that could measure sunlight, temperature, alkalinity and growth and the development tendency for rice.

"All the information will be conveyed to the big data center instantly through narrow-band internet of things technology," Hu said.

Then, the artificial intelligence and expert diagnosis system will analyze and give suggestions on the fertilization, soil quality monitoring, extermination of disease and insect pests and automatic production measurements.

The whole agricultural system, using the internet of things, is termed "the digitalization of the soil", Hu added.

"Besides improving the saline-alkali soil, the system can also further upgrade existing farmland and increase production and the quality of the crops.

"For example, the system could save 30 percent of water and 40 percent of fertilizers at the rice center in Qingdao," Hu added.

The internet of things technology can also be applied in many areas such as fish breeding, poultry raising and the food industry, ranging from raw-food materials, the supply chain, inspection and detection, logistics, cooking and delivery.