Source: PIB
Context: ICAR informed Parliament of its programme of national importance, the Network Programme on Precision Agriculture (ICAR-NePPA), involving 16 ICAR Research Institutes across different domains.
What It Is
- Precision agriculture applies inputs — water, nutrients, pesticides — in the right quantity, at the right place, at the right time, instead of uniformly across a field. The gain comes from matching input to actual need: yield rises and waste falls at the same time.
- ICAR-NePPA develops technologies using sensors, remote sensing (ground, drone, satellite), AI and ICTs, across five domains:
| Domain | Focus |
|---|---|
| Crop and soil | Spatio-temporal monitoring and management of crop and soil health |
| Post-harvest | Sensor-based quality monitoring — mango, banana, pulses, rice |
| Vertical farming | IoT-based precision farming for high-value vegetables under controlled environment |
| Aquaculture | Sensor-based monitoring of the aquatic environment |
| Livestock | IoT-enabled health monitoring |
Technologies Developed
- Water and nutrients: sensor-based irrigation, drip fertigation, precision subsurface drip, poly-mulching, raised-bed cultivation, modified raised and sunken conservation beds.
- Machinery and drones: drone-based spraying, AI-enabled precision planters, variable rate fertiliser applicator.
- Controlled environment: low-cost protected cultivation, hydroponics, aeroponics, agrivoltaic farming, agro-aqua land configuration.
- Sensing and quality instruments: SPAD meter 2.0 (leaf chlorophyll), rapid Aflatoxin-B1 detection in maize, IoT cold-room control, AI grain analyser, AI rice-seed quality assessment, image-processing contamination measurement in seed cotton, computer-vision ginning percentage measurement, digital twin-based fruit quality monitoring, and blockchain-enabled banana supply chain traceability.
- Digital tools: the Dweep Microclimate Monitor; a Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) at Dehradun for UAV training.
- Aquaculture: a tank-based super-intensive precision shrimp farming system yielding 120–150 tonnes/ha/year over three cycles, with smart automation and strict biosecurity.
