MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE

 Agricultural Drone -realtime information regarding crops, soil

deterioration, dry regions, fungal infections, etc
 Satellite images
 Artificial Intelligence -indicates weather conditions, type of harvest
 Soil and Water sensors: can detect moisture and nitrogen levels.
 Mini-chromosomal Technology: can add dozens of traits to a plant
 RFID Technology: Can be used for traceability of particular crops
 Smart Phones: can control his irrigation systems
 Internet of Things (loT): monitor soil moisture, water meters, rainfall,
weather stations,
 Robotics: impact production of food, that require intensive labor.

Advantage of using technology in agriculture

 help in improving skills and productive capacities of farmers

 Inclusive growth:
 Strengthening agricultural ecosystem: agriculture’s contribution to
national GDP declined from 34% in 1983-84 to 16% in 2018-19
 Informed decision making: based on concrete data.
 Digitization of land records:
 Provision of Digital Financial Services (DFS-such as alternative credit
scoring, payments, insurance and savings etc.
 Precision agriculture:

 As per WEF, drone usage could reduce cost of application by 20

percent

• Better crop varieties: biotechnology help in developing eco-friendly and

disease resistant,
• Improving productivity: Use of satellites, IoT, drones for better collection of
data regarding soil health, crop area
Precision farming systems improve environmental sustainability
• Lower cost of production: Farm mechanization help in 20-30 per cent savings
in time, 20- 30 per cent reduction in manual labour and 10- 15 per cent overall
increase in farm productivity.
• Improving water use efficiency:precision farming
• Reduce farmer’s effort: Use of GPS technology, drones, robots etc

Challenges in adopting technology in Agriculture

• High transaction cost: drones cost between ₹1 lakh and ₹10 lakh.
• Reluctance from Farmers: to invest in tech solutions
• Lack of Research & Development (R&D) due to nature of IPR regime
• Unskilled labour
Non-availability of suitable digital products: most digital products operate in
English or Hindi do not offer services in other local languages.
Digital divide: Smartphone penetration in rural India (25% in 2018)-rural
broadband penetration 29% in March 2020
Information gaps -at every stage of the agri ecosystem
risk of a privacy or security breach
Problem of continuous electricity supply to be connected to internet.
Inadequate trained professional to guide village common farmer with usage of
internet
• Lack of awareness and literacy among farmers
• Lack of digital infrastructure
lack of accessibility and affordability to internet, mobile phones

Government efforts towards digitization in Agriculture

1. AI-Sowing App: Microsoft developed in collaboration with ICRISAT

2. NITI Aayog partnered with IBM to develop crop yield prediction
model backed by AI to provide real-time data

3. Kisan Suvidha: smartphone app - relevant information regarding

weather, dealers’ market prices, plant protection,
4. MKisan App: enables farmers and stakeholders to obtain advisories
sent by experts and govt. officials
5. Farm-o-pedia: Developed by CDAC Mumbai, Android app that
targets farmers of rural Gujrat.
6. Crop Insurance App: calculate Insurance Premium for notified crops
based on area, coverage amount and loan amount.
7. Shetkari App -Agriculture magazine
8. Agri Market App: information of market price of all crops at markets

located within 50 kilometre radius

Drivers of E-technology in Agriculture

• Increasing population
• increasing average income
• globalization effects in India
• India is third-largest nation in terms of funding received and start-ups
inagritech space.
• Agritech projected to grow to a $30-$35 billion market by 2025,

• booming mobile, wireless, and Internet industries

• advances in data storage
• innovative business models
• government and private sector collaborations
• democratization of information, including open access movement and

social media

Initiatives

• Government’s free app, Kisan Suvidha, provides farmers information

• on current weather, market price,
• ISRO’s Geo-platform, Bhuvan, provides valuable data on plantation,
• ICAR) established network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs
• e-sagu: provide expert suggestions to the farmers

National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A)

• aims to achieve rapid development of agriculture in India through ICT
enabled multiple delivery channels such as Internet, Touch Screen
Kiosks, Krishi Vigyan Kendras ,
• Kisan SMS Portal
• can register their queries, about weather report, soil type, prospects and
• problems of market a
Kisan Sabha App
aims to provide logistics support to farmers.
by minimizing interference of middlemen and directly connecting
with institutional buyers.

Crop Insurance Mobile App

• initiative under Digital India
• can be used to calculate Insurance Premium for notified crops based on
area, coverage
• amount and loan amount in case of loanee farmer.
National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)
• It is a pan-India electronic trading portal, which seeks to connect
existing APMCs and other
• market yards to create a unified national market for agricultural
commodities.

Seednet
• Users can find information on seed sector in India, quality control, seed
replacement rate,

AGMARKNET
• provides information on prices, arrivals,availability, trends, analysis,
laws etc.
• covers 2800 market nodes and 300 commodities
• provides information in ten languages

Kisan Call Centres (KCC)

aimed at answering farmers queries on a telephone call in farmers own dialect.

Agriclinics
• to provide expert services and advice to farmers on cropping practices,
• technology dissemination, crop protection from pests & diseases

• Krishi vigyan kendras for training and education of farmers,

entrepreneurs, farm women, rural youth, financial institutions extension
functionaries

(DBT) Central Agri Portal

• helps farmers adopt modern farm machinery through government

subsidies.

Unified Farmer Service Platform (UFSP)

• enable seamless interoperability of various public and private IT

systems in the agriculture ecosystem

• National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A):

• use of ICT for timely access to agriculture related
information to the farmers.
AgriStack

a collection of technology-based interventions in agriculture.

unified platform for farmers to receive end-to-end services across the
agriculture food value chain.
E-Mandi
electronic market platform to sell vegetables

Private Sector Initiatives.

Facebook for Farmers and Extension Workers

Government of Kerala
to strengthen extension activities of the Department of Agriculture

E-choupal
initiative of ITC Ltd.
provide farmers information they need to be more successful.
enables buyers to come to farmers instead of having to haul produce to market,

SasyaSree
• “SasyaSree – a One Stop Telugu portal for Information Dissemination”
locally specific, demand driven knowledge solutions in local language
documenting best crop management practices, information related to
Government schemes, market price and other information

mkrishi
•TCS
offers personalized advisory services in voice and visual formats

eSagu
IT-based personalized agro-advisory system developed by IIIT Hyderabad.
aims to improve farm productivity by delivering high quality personalized
(farm-specific)
agro-expert advice in a timely manner

Weather based Information through E-initiatives

Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS)

implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra

Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre

carries out drought assessment at District/sub-district level using satellite based
remote sensing data,

Ministry of Earth Sciences two mobiles apps 'Mausam' and 'Meghdoot' to

propagate data

Way Ahead
• Hybrid ‘phygital’ (physical plus digital) model: to achieve digitization
outcomes in the long run.
 • Creation of an Aggregated Digital Ecosystem ( 360-degree Solution):
For example, a common platform could support getting credit, selling
crops, receiving payment, etc
• Collaboration between fintech and bank
• Example- SBI’s YONO App: YONO SBI Krishi.
• Analyzing data to give insights into cropping patterns, predicting
shortage/surplus, mapping shortfall
• Setting up of a specialized fund for upliftment of agri-tech sector:
• Digitization of land records: Bhoomi - Karnataka + SVAMITVA
Scheme
• More collaboration between agri-related start-ups and FPOs-can
fill information gap on both upstream and downstream sides in remote
rural areas.
• Support digital entrepreneurship ecosystems
• Development of digital libraries in rural areas
• Innovative financial arrangements and micro-loans
• Consultations with strategic partners like Israel where AI

E-NAM
• pan India e-trading portal to network existing APMC and other
market yards to create a unified national market for agri
commodities.
• provide a single window service for all APMC related information
• will connect e-mandis in several states
• enable farmers to get better price of their produce
• create a combined national market for agricultural commoditie
• key features:
• Integration of Negotiable Warehouse Receipt System (e-NWRs)
Module with e-NAM: It
• will enable small and marginal farmers to directly trade their stored
produce from selected warehouses which are declared deemed market
by State.
• • Farmers Produces Organization (FPO) module: will enable (FPOs)
to upload picture of their produce and quality parameters from their
premise/collection centres for bidding
• Logistic Module: for linking large logistic aggregator platforms
providing choices to users.

benefits of the schme

• Increase operational efficiency and transparency in mandi operations
• Enhance market access and more options for farmers through warehouse
based sales
• Larger national market for secondary trading for local trader in mandi
• Reduction in intermediation costs for bulk buyers, processors, exporters
etc.
• Eliminate information asymmetry
• will lead to common procedures for issue of licenses, levy of fee and
movement of
 produce
 will help in emergence of value chains by promoting scientific storage
and
 movement of agricultural goods
  bring a parity in prices-onions and potatoes are often sold at varying
rates in different states
 curbing tendency to hoard,
 lead to moderation of food inflation.

Criticism
 NSSO report 85 per cent of coconut growers selling their produce to
retailers in their immediate neighbourhood.
 well above 50 per cent in most crops.
 sell their goods to the local bania.
 Challenge to bring rationalization in taxes -as agriculture and marketing

is a state subject

AgriStack’

 collection of technologies and digital databases

 proposed by Union government that focuses on farmers
and agricultural sector.
 may have a Farmers’ Stack linking existing digital land records,
cadastral maps of farms and information.
 schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), PM-
KISAN and Soil Health Card will be integrated through a common
database

Benefits
 Improved access to formal credit:
 enable closer study of flow of agricultural credit to specific land
parcels.
 Crop insurance products and delivery can be improved:with geographic
information system (GIS) and remote sensing technologies.
 could address asymmetry in information flow
• GIS and IoT (internet of things) services can be deployed to give
feedback to stakeholders
 Prevent leakages of aid with accurate targeting

Cons
 Data security concerns in absence of data protection legislation
 Exclusion error-since farmers database based on digitised land records
 Gaps in digital access and literacy

wf
 Ensure digital security and privacy
 Wider consultation:Since agriculture is a state subject,
 creation of common agricultural data standards.
 creation of comon sharing mechanisms through inter-ministerial/centre-
state consultations.
 Ensure asymmetric flow of information