India is a land of agriculture. The country is the second-largest agricultural producer in the world, while 42% of the Indian population has taken agriculture as their main occupation. With the increasing population, demand is expected to rise. In this situation, farmers are facing the challenges of –
- Climate change
- Lack of knowledge regarding the improvements in the field of agriculture
- Lack of uniformity among the farmers around the country
In this situation, farmers must continue to innovate in order to maintain and improve productivity and meet demand. Digital technologies have the potential to provide farmers with the knowledge and tools they need to meet these challenges and capitalize on opportunities for growth.
But it isn’t just about farmers. Due to easy access to the internet, consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about the products they purchase. They expect high-quality and sustainably produced food. Therefore, digital agriculture has to be the future of agriculture in India. But what exactly is digital agriculture? In this article, we will provide you with the complete guide to digital agriculture and how it shapes the agricultural field in India.
What is Digital Agriculture?
Digital agriculture is the use of digital technology to integrate agricultural production from the farmers to the consumer. Innovative digital technologies can provide the agricultural industry with tools and information to make more informed selections regarding seeds, fertilizers, etc., and improve productivity.
A digital agriculture system gathers data more frequently and accurately, often combined with exterior sources like weather information. The accurate combined data is analyzed and interpreted so the farmer can make more informed and appropriate decisions. These types of choices can then be quickly applied with greater accuracy through robotics and advanced machinery, and farmers can get real-time feedback on the impact of their actions.
Benefits of Digital Agriculture
Implementing digital solutions allows for more reliable farm management and monitoring. Farmers can act accordingly after receiving a complete digital analysis of their farms in real-time, eliminating the need to apply excess pesticides and fertilizers and reducing overall water consumption.
Other advantages include:
- Increases agricultural productivity and reduces production costs
- Prevents soil degradation
- Reduces chemical use in crop production
- Teaches and promotes the effective use of water resources
- Farmers’ socioeconomic statuses are improved
- Environmental and ecological impacts are reduced
- Improves worker safety
Current Initiatives by the Government of India
AgriStack
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed an agreement with Microsoft in June 2021 to run a pilot program for 100 villages across six states to improve digital agriculture in India. Microsoft will develop a ‘Unified Farmer Services Interface’ using its cloud computing services under the terms of the agreement. This is a key component of the ministry’s long-term plan to build ‘AgriStack.’ AgriStack is a unified platform that will provide farmers with end-to-end services across the agricultural food value chain. The government intends to issue unique farmer IDs to farmers across the country in order to integrate them with various government schemes and create systematic digital agricultural ecosystems.
Unified Farmer Service Platform (UFSP)
The demand for digitization in Indian agriculture is well understood and acknowledged. Efforts have been made to digitize the current value chain. United Farmer Service Platform or UFSP is a unique combination of core infrastructure, data, applications, and tools that enables the seamless interoperability of various public and private IT systems across the country’s agriculture ecosystem. It is also aimed to act as a data exchange medium between various schemes and services to help the farmers throughout the country by allowing them to have comprehensive access to various schemes and services.
Digital Agriculture Mission
Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, announced the launch of the Digital Agriculture Mission 2021–2025 in September 2021. The government has signed five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several IT giants to advance digital agriculture through pilot projects. The Digital Agriculture Mission 2021–2025 aims to support and accelerate projects based on new technologies such as AI, blockchain, remote sensing, and GIS technology and the use of drones and robots.
Jio Agri
The Jio Agri (JioKrishi) platform (launched in February 2020) aims to digitize the agricultural ecosystem along the entire value chain in order to empower farmers. The platform’s core function provides advisory using stand-alone application data. The advanced functions of this platform use data from various sources, feed the data into AI/ML algorithms, and provide accurate, personalized advice to the farmers. Jio Agri was launched to take digital agriculture in India to the next level.
Future of Digital Agriculture in India
Digital agriculture intends to make the agricultural sector of India more productive, consistent, and efficient in terms of time and resources. This has significant benefits for farmers as well as for society. It also allows organizations to share information across traditional industry boundaries in order to create new, disruptive opportunities in the field of agriculture.
Digital technologies can improve agricultural product traceability. This will provide the consumers with peace of mind about what they are consuming and also increase the value of farmers and their products. With the digitalization of the agriculture field, Indian agriculture has the potential to level up the country’s economy to a great extent. India is known for its agriculture, and digital agriculture will surely take India’s position in the global market to the next level.
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