By Raju Kapoor

Agriculture plays a significant role in India’s economic growth. With around 54.6% of the total workforce involved in agriculture and allied sector activities, the sector contributes 17.8% to the country’s Gross Value Added (GVA). During 2021-22, in the country’s total exports agricultural exports contributed of to the tune of US $ 50.2 billion with a 20% increase from US $ 41.3 billion in 2020-21. In FY 2023, it is projected that the Indian agriculture sector will grow at the rate 3.5%.

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The use of conventional farming methods in India had traditionally led to comparatively less improvement in efficiency and agricultural yields resulting in low productivity of agriculture. Taking note of this, the government has initiated the 4th  wave of revolution in the agricultural sector to introduce technological advancement in the sector to improve yields.

India’s agricultural sector today is said to be on the verge of a breakthrough technological transformation After decades of evolution, starting from Mechanisation and the Green Revolution, disruptive technologies are said to have ushered in Precision Agriculture. The new farm management approach use Geopolitical Systems (GPS) and Artificial Intelligence-enabled software for precise mapping of farmlands ensuring that individual fields or crops precisely get the inputs they need for optimum productivity.

Agriculture 4.0 is said to be a considerably advanced version of precision farming methods with th potential to transform the existing methods of farming. Precision farming focuses on a comprehensive approach towards maintaining the well-being of the field and the soil with a focus on improving the quality and quantity of yield with minimum environmental harm according to experts.

The idea of 4th  Revolution in agriculture according to experts involves:

  1. Use of the Internet of Things (IoT), that connects billions of physical devices around the world to the internet, all collecting and sharing data;
  2. Big data, providing farmers granular data on rainfall patterns, water cycles, fertilizer requirements, and more;
  3. Artificial intelligence to improve crop production and real-time monitoring, harvesting, processing, and marketing, and;
  4. Robotic system that can perform tasks like ploughing, sowing seeds, applying fertilizers, and spraying pesticides with precision to accelerate and improve the efficiency of the activities throughout the entire production chain.

According to experts, Precision farming has the potential to transform the conventional farming industry While Conventional farming practices control the watering of crops and spraying pesticides or fertilizer uniformly across the field, the farmers under Precision farming will need to be more targeted and data driven in the context of farming according to them.

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Future farms therefore will be more productive according to experts owing to:

  1. The employment of robotics,
  2. Temperature and moisture sensors,
  3. Aerial photos, and;
  4. GPS technology
  5. Drones

These cutting-edge methods will improve farm profitability, efficiency, safety, and environmental friendliness according to them. These together are referred to as advanced or high-tech precision farming. Leading companies such as FMC Corporation have already launched ARC® technology, their own versions of the Precision Ag and Services businesses to address the future needs of the farmers.

Prospects of Indian Agriculture

The continuous technological innovation in the Indian agriculture sector can play a critical role in the growt and development of the sector crucial for ensuring:

  1. Increased agricultural production;
  2. Generating higher end employment, and;
  3. Reducing poverty to promote equitable and sustainable growth.
  4. Promoting sustainability

Various Constraints to the achievement of this goal include:

  1. Diminishing and degraded land and water resources;
  2. Drought;
  3. Flooding, and;
  4. Global warming.

These constraints, generating unpredictable weather patterns, present a significant barrier to India’s agriculture to growing sustainably and profitably according to experts.

Under these circumstances, the future of agriculture seems to depend on the involvement of much-developed technologies like robotics, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology. Use of these, in the opinion of experts will make farms more productive, efficient, safe, and environmentally sustainable owing to the cutting-edge equipment, robotic systems, and precision agriculture.

Epilogue

Recent Trends in Agriculture

India’s agriculture mainly depends on the nature. However, changing climate and global warming are making farming riskier. The need to use modern technologies to increase productivity and profitability has therefore led to the adoption of Agriculture 4.0 in India.

There have been significant changes in India in the context of agriculture over the decades with development of many new technologies. Several new-age farmers are now using soil mapping software to determine the optimum level of fertilizers used in the farms.

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Application of these emerging technologies in farming and agriculture has paved the way for more opportunities. The Agro-tech Start-ups and traditional farmers are now said to be using the latest solutions and trends to improve efficiency in the food value chain, including the adoption of new technologies, such as cloud-based solutions which offer widespread access to weather forecasts and other critical information and other relevant advanced agricultural management techniques to increase farmer efficiency and produce more crops.

Some Examples include:

  1. Grape farmers in India have begun spotting and geo-locating crop diseases or pestilence, allowing them to control infestations earlier and in a more precise manner leading to lower use of harmful pesticides on the crop.
  2. Soil mapping software is used by several new farmers to determine the optimum level of fertilizer needed in their farms.
  3. They are also using drones which allow spraying pesticides/nutrients in a more targeted manner.
  4. Sugarcane farmers in India have started using technology to gauge the most appropriate time to harvest their crops, which allows them to better plan their harvest and maximise output.
  5. Several Indian farmers have also begun to use AI/ML-powered technologies to forecast crop yield, weather conditions and price trends in mandis.
  6. A few farmers have also begun testing self-driving tractors and seed-planting robots to free their farms from the vagaries of labour shortages.

Emerging trends in the agricultural sector that are quite prominent in the post-liberalization era includ increased production, increased investment, diversification of the sector, use of modern techniques development of horticulture and floriculture, increasing volume of exports and development of the foo processing industry.

The farmers will be highly benefitted using these technologies to improve efficiency and productivity o their farms. The critical success factor in making these technologies available to farmers faster howeve would depend on how soon these products and technologies get regulatory approval. With food an agriculture jumping high on the global agenda due to he geopolitical situation, more efficient and time bound regulatory approvals for each of these technologies will help boost productivity faster.

The author is Director, Public and Industry Affairs, FMC India.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.