DIGITAL AGRICULTURE AND ITS EFFECTS

                                               DIGITAL AGRICULTURE

We Indians celebrate Farmers’ Day/ Popularly known as Kisan Diwas, is a national occasion observed on 23rd December. It is the birth anniversary of the fifth prime minister and kisan/farmer leader, late Chaudhary Charan Singh. He contributed a lot to improvise the life of Indian farmers, the farmers and agri sector is not in that good place in india , during covid this scenario is very visible,

it is the time to revolutionize the agriculture sector, bcs. 

                    “If the farmer is rich then so is the nation”                

Challenges

   1.lack of information about whether on time  

   2. poor logistics and warehousing. Lot of wastage of products before reaching the consumers

Some of the applications of digital as of now form pilot programs,

1.      Prediction of best time of seed sowing(OPTIMAL SOWING DATE) :In Andhra and Karnataka farmers receive messages to “when to sow their groundnut crops”

2.      PEST ATTACK PREDICTION:Predictive information regarding pest attacks based on the weather conditions and crop stage.

3.      PRICE FORECASTING :  Karnataka government is doing  for essential commodities. Commodity prices for items such as tur, of which Karnataka is the second largest producer, will be predicted three months in advance for major markets in the state.

TOOLS USED: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CLOUD MACHINE LEARNING , SATELLITE IMAGERY, AND ADVANCE ANALYTICS(predictive ), IOT, information and communication technology.

These are all pilots and farmers who were part of the pilot are benefited a lot from others , and a free android app developed by the Indian government, Kisan Suvidha, now has about 100 million registered users. This app assists farmers with relevant information on the weather of the current day and next five days, market prices, dealers, agro advisories, and plant protection. so it is the high time to complete digitalization of agriculture in india,

APPLICATIONS

1..REAL TIME FARMER CREDIT RATINGS,

          1.empowering farmers by making low cost finance reach in most optimal manner in environment of trust

          2. Digital land-registry records could make crop insurance available to more farmers.

2.FARM OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT,

         Delivering real time data to farmers ,crop monitoring , pest and soil defect detection and other inputs

3.AGRICULTURE ONLINE MARKET PLACES-

                 Transparent output sales ensure farmers get what they deserve

4.SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION,

             Optimized economical delivery of relevant agriculture inputs at fair price

               Farm to consumers and customers

5.SALES EXCELLENCE FOR AGRICULTURE INPUT COMPANIES

                  Suppliers of farming equipments such as tractor ect..

How does it change the Indian economy:

The country produces 11 percent of total global agriculture and, at the same time, is host to the world’s largest number of malnourished people. Agriculture provides livelihoods for about half of the Indian population, most of whom are smallholder farmers, yet a majority of government agricultural subsidies are used by medium- and large-scale farmers.

Micro level

the Covid-19 pandemic has in a way created an urgency to amplify the digital agriculture growth in India. And this is possible when we create robust rural connectivity since most farmers and land holdings are based out of villages.

1.      small farmers who have been being neglected  for years and were not able to benefit from so many schemes can also benefited, they improve their profitability and income level

2.      medium and large scale farmers can yield very high profits.

macro level

digital agriculture has the potential to deliver economic benefits through increased agricultural productivity, cost efficiency and market opportunities, social and cultural benefits through increased communication and inclusivity .

As per the International Labor Organisation’s statistics, 43.9 percent of India’s total workforce worked in agriculture in 2018.agriculture and allied sectors in india currently contributes 18% to India’s $2.6trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Overall it improves GDP.

Recommendations

 Technology for Farmers

             Awareness and education of the small and medium scale farmers is very import .  

   • Real time price information

   • Online ordering of inputs

   • Online cash, loan, relief payment with mobile banking