Context:
Indian agriculture is the source of employment for over 158 million people and contributes. The sector is undergoing a technological revolution. The population is projected to touch 15 billion by 2030 and hence innovations in agritech are the need of the hour to ensure food security and meet the challenges in the sector.
Key Developments
- Agritech Ecosystem Growth
- From less than 50 in 2013 to more than 3000 today the Indian agritech sector has seen a lot of growth in the number of startups.
- Over 1300 startups are applying AI/ML and IoT to innovative solutions for farming. Growing awareness among farmers and rural, internet penetration and government support fuel these numbers.
Governments Digital Agriculture Mission
- Digital Agriculture Mission
- The allocation for this mission is 2817 crore This involves the setting up of AgriStack as a farmer centric Digital Public Infrastructure.
- AgriStack will be giving digital identities to 11 crore farmers and has received support from 19 states in the form of MoUs signed with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Emerging Technologies in Farming
- Drone Technology
- Drones are transforming agriculture by permitting aerial planting crop monitoring and nutrient application which helps increase productivity through precision and in time e.g. Namo Drone Didi Scheme.
- Smart Farming Equipment
- Automated tractors are equipped with GPS ensuring minimum fuel usage while reducing the tiredness of operators due to operational efficiency.
- IoT Sensors
- With sensors constantly monitoring soil moisture, nutrient levels and crop health in realtime data is translated into actionable insights for farmers with the use of AI algorithms
- Automated Irrigation
- With the help of both weather data and readings of soil moisture accurate watering to conserve resources is given by automated systems.
- Mobile Based Applications
- Mobile apps are democratizing access to agricultural knowledge providing features such as crop disease identification weather updates and market price information in local languages enabling farmers to make informed decisions
- Financial Inclusion in Agriculture
- Platforms like SBIs YONO Krishi and emerging agrifintech solutions are helping overcome the challenge of limited access to financial services for rural farmers.
- Climate Resilience and Sustainability
- As weather patterns are affected smart farming technologies promise increased efficiency in the use of resources and no more waste. For instance the Saagu Baagu pilot in Telangana utilizes, AIbased advisories to help 7000 chilli farmers optimize their production.
- Using solar panels on farmland or agrivoltaics leads to increased crop yields and electricity to solve both energy and agriculture needs.
Challenges
- Digital Literacy and Data Access
- The digital divide in the rural sector has become very big. Most of the farmers have not acquired data processing tools skills nor access to the right software while using the technologies.
- Data Privacy and Implementation
- Data privacy is of prime importance and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 is supposed to take up this issue appropriately. The government is struggling to update the land records and authenticate the data of farmers for AgriStack and only 43 million farmers data have been authenticated.
- Resource Accessibility
- The software tools and the expertise in data processing are not available in sufficient numbers and thus the agritech applications cannot be achieved in full.
- The Road Ahead
- Economic Potential: The agritech sector would boost farmer incomes by 2535, thus adding another 95 billion to the economy of India. However only 15 of its market potential of 24 billion has been tapped so far leaving wide scope for further growth.
- Role of FPOs
- Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) will play a crucial role in facilitating technology adoption linking farmers with technology and with buyers and transforming the way farming communities interact with innovations.
- Affordability and Local Context
- The keys to successful adoption of agritech solutions will lie in making available affordable and localized innovations tailored to the needs of small and marginal farmers so that it hits grass roots.
- Public and Private Collaboration
- This includes the integration of government support private sector innovation and community led adoption as a model for more resilient efficient and sustainable agricultural practices.
