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Efficient farming and improved
farm yield, now just a click away!
Spirit of Innovation
ICT in agriculture - improves income and
standard of living
BI-ANNUAL
17
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Seeds of Thought
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The Role of ICT in Plant Pathology
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- Iss
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ue 1 - Feb
The germination
of Information Communication
Technology in Agriculture
video call
My farm
73%
85%
25%
75%
15%
36%
Information Communication Technology
(ICT) ushers in a wave
of change in agriculture
Farmers receive live
updates on market
information and timely
inputs to improve farm
productivity.
Information Communication Technology
has impacted billions of lives, the world
over. Mobile Applications, Wireless
Technologies, Global Positioning
Systems, Geographic Information
Systems, Computer Controlled Devices,
Robots, Drones, E-learning,
E-commerce, E-knowledge
Management Systems are now being
accessed by farmers to stay connected
with global best practices and solutions.
With the telecommunication and
smartphone boom and its penetration in
rural areas, we see a surge in
Information Communication and
Technology (ICT) solutions. These are
being used by rural communities in
general, and farmers in particular.
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As ICT in agriculture is entering an
interesting phase, with several
stakeholders seeing huge opportunities,
this platform is empowering the farming
community to access real-time
information and apply the same to their
farm on a timely-basis.
Farmers receive live updates on market
information and timely inputs to improve
farm productivity. ICT also helps them to
sell their produce at a competitive price.
The advent of ICT in agriculture is
helping farmers to improve productivity
and quality of crops. And thereby,
enabling them to prosper and become
successful agri-entrepreneurs.
- The Beej Team
Efficient farming and improved
farm yield, now just a click away!
Advanced farming technologies and ICT - enabled services empower farmers
to manage their farms efficiently and improve yield.
The farming community, world over, can
only thrive when farmers have access
to the right information, at the right time.
New generation farming technologies
and Agritech at fingertips are the new
drivers of success.
Some of the biggest challenges faced
by farmers today include accessing
information regarding contemporary
global best products and practices. In
addition to sharing of success stories of
farmers, diagnosis and prescription for
specific agriculture related problems,
easy access and other technical know
how is imperative for successful farming.
Until a while ago, a farmer’s only source
of information was the neighbouring agri
input provider. Farmers were dependant
on shopkeepers of agri-products for
advice. They had no way to check if the
advice was right or wrong in terms of
quality and dosage. Farmers did not
have the option to compare two similar
products from different companies and
take an educated purchase decision.
These are exciting times for farmers.
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Today it is possible to compare
products and make an informed
decision via portals such as
www.theagrihub.com.
Penetration of telecom, smartphones,
internet and other revolutionary
technology is bridging the information
gap today. The telecom revolution is
taking India by storm. Either the farmer
himself, or a family member is smart
phone engaged. They are the tech
leaders of the family. There exists
numerous WhatsApp groups of farmers
who share information like never before.
The smartphone revolution and the
arrival of competitive data plans have
ushered in new ICT revolutions.
To welcome the ICT revolution, you can
just click a picture of your farm / plant
that has either nutritional deficiencies or
diseases, get the problem diagnosed
by accessing the large database of
online pictures and get remedies and
solutions right away. You can find
suppliers online / nearby and order a
globally available product within the
comfort of your living room.
Enabled farmers in Nashik have
increased their yield of brinjal and
tomatoes up to 100 tons per acre.
However, farmers in Bihar or some
other parts of India have not been able
to get half of that yield. Information
travels so fast these days, that success
and failure stories in one corner of the
country can become a learning for a
farmer in some other corner.
The next big thing in agriculture will be
an all mobile based application - right
from starting the pump, applying
fertilizers, to monitoring the field. It has
already started in some parts of the
globe and is now making its way to
India. Surveys will all be drone based.
Nutritional status of soil will be decided
by the satellites and more advanced
technologies will be ruling the future of
Indian agriculture.
It is all just a click away!
Rajeeb Kumar Roy
Founder and CEO, Agrihub
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Surveys will all be drone
based. Nutritional status
of soil will be decided by
the satellites and more
advanced technologies
will be ruling the future
of Indian agriculture.
Spirit of Innovation
Precision farming, a fast evolving boon for future generations of farming families
and related industries.
Let’s study what is fast becoming a
worrisome reality in India - Indian
agriculture is facing a crisis. Village after
village, farmers are looking at selling
their land and moving away from
farming as a livelihood.
Poor availability of funds, unscientific
farm inputs, poor support price
structure for farm produce and almost
no farm insurance are some important
reasons that lead to crippling debts,
that force farmers to see farming as
non-remunerative.
Also, without mechanization, farming is
hard, back-breaking work. This has
resulted in most farmers’ children
quitting farming for other vocations.
Farmers get more money by selling their
land to builders, malls and factories,
than they would ever get from farming.
This has put more pressure on farm
land, thereby requiring technologies to
increase the productivity, so that
shrinking farm land can feed billion plus
people of India in the future.
India, though one of the biggest
producers of agricultural products, has
only an average farm productivity of
only 33% compared to farms world
over. This productivity needs to be
increased so that farmers can get more
remuneration from the same piece of
land, with less labour.
Precision agriculture may provide a way
to do it.
Precision Agriculture
Precision agriculture (PA), is the
application of precise and correct
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amount of inputs like water, fertilizer,
pesticides etc. at the correct time to the
crop, to increase productivity and
maximize yields.
PA originated in U.S. and European
countries where the use of Global
Positioning Satellite (GPS) allows
precise mapping of the farms. This,
together with appropriate software
informs the farmer about the status of
his crop, which area of the farm requires
water, fertilizer and pesticide etc. PA
includes the practice of sub-surface drip
irrigation for precise water and fertilizer
application to the crops, the use of
heavy farm machinery for sowing,
harvesting, weeding, baling etc. Heavy
farm machinery currently uses a
significant quantity fossil fuels which
may not be economical for small farmers.
Robots, Drones & Precision Machinery
PA with the help of robots and
autonomous farm machinery will make
perfect sense in small farms as they
can also run on renewable fuels like bio
oil, compressed biogas and electricity
produced on farms by agricultural
residues. Autonomous farm machinery
capable of no-till sowing, weed removal,
harvesting and other farming operations
are ideal for small farms in India.
Similarly, drones which are unmanned
aircrafts extensively used in wars, have
started being used in Japan and U.S.
for insecticide application to the crops.
Many of these robotic machines and
drones are small in size and are
excellent for small farm applications.
Precision agriculture (PA) in U.S. and
other countries has shown tremendous
increase in productivity, lowering of
inputs and thereby, increased
remuneration to the farmers. It has also
helped to improve the quality of land
with no-till farming and less water usage.
To the critics of mechanization and PA,
I urge them to open their eyes to farm
machinery leasing agencies in rural
areas. These companies or enterprises
lease mechanized drones for spraying,
robotic crop harvester equipment,
including drip irrigation systems, to the
farmers. They also provide trained
manpower to run these machines.
Critics of mechanization
seldom recognize that
traditional farming requires
timely availability of labor,
water and fertilizer. These
things are no longer
predictable.
These already exist on a limited scale in
India. A few agencies undertake wheat
harvesting using combines and spraying
of crops and charge farmers on a per hour basis. With the unavailability of
farm labour, farmers find this concept
economical and attractive. In Western
Maharashtra, more and more farmers
are depending on mechanization
offered by such agencies.
With increasing demand, these leasing
enterprises will increase and as PA
develops and increases they will get
more structured and available on demand.
In the days to come, these leasing
companies may form the backbone of
Indian agriculture by providing the
necessary advice and manpower to the
farmers on precision agriculture.
Critics of mechanization seldom
recognize that traditional farming
requires timely availability of labor, water
and fertilizer. These things are no longer
predictable. Precision Agriculture as
discussed above can help in this matter.
The most important component in
taking PA forward will be in creating a
huge resource of engineers, scientists
and agriculturists to develop various
components of the technology. Without
excellent manpower and consequently
good R&D, PA will not succeed.
work together in developing PA.
Industries develop the machinery and
set up leasing agencies. This will result
in more job creation and more students
will join the agricultural mechatronics
stream.
PA will also provide a platform for
industrial corporate social responsibility
(CSR) activity, since improving the
livelihood of India’s rural poor through
high-tech farming can qualify as a CSR
activity. The Government of India can
facilitate in this process by giving soft
loans and sops to the industry to
incentivize agriculture and PA activities.
High-tech PA therefore can help in
bringing next green revolution to India
and can produce tremendous rural
wealth in a sustainable and
environmentally sound way.
Farmers and farms are the backbone of
any country as they are producers of food,
fuel (agricultural residues) and wealth
from the land. They should be helped by
all members of society and developing
PA is a step in the right direction.
There is need for excellent engineers
from institutions like IITs, NITs, etc. to
design machinery like robots and
drones for PA. This can be facilitated by
establishing a new branch of
engineering called agricultural
mechatronics or robotics, where faculty
and students from almost all branches
of engineering will interact and
collaborate to develop smart systems
for PA.
Another way forward is when scientists
from ICAR institutes, engineers from the
academic world, industry and farmers
Anil Rajvanshi
Director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
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ICT in agriculture - improves income
and standard of living
Smart Farming is the coming together of Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence,
in order to find solutions to current day agricultural challenges.
In the picturesque Western Ghats, the
first monsoon showers at the end of
summer triggers an annual spraying
ritual for Malanad farmers in Karnataka.
Armed with 3hp motor and lengthy
high-pressure hoses, plantation workers
spray barrels of Bordeaux mixture to
areca nut bunches and black pepper
vines to protect the plants from various
fungi attacks. It is a laborious exercise,
as spray needs to reach areca bunches
hanging at least 40 feet above ground.
Pepper vines too can go above thirty
feet and some older ones on mature
supports can climb beyond fifty.
Another round of spraying is undertaken
as the monsoon draws to a close by
September. At best, only a third of
Bordeaux actually reaches its intended
target. The rest gets wasted during this
cumbersome operation.
Now imagine a sprayer drone with a 20L
capacity deployed to perform this
operation. An operator can cover
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hundreds of trees in a single day while
saving on time, crop protection
chemicals, labour and fuel. This is just a
glimpse of precision and efficiency that
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are
bringing into agriculture. But these
flying robots are not new. Yamaha’s
remotely piloted helicopters have been
spraying pesticides on Japanese paddy
fields since 1991. For an advanced but
aging society like Japan, these
machines are increasingly becoming a
An operator can cover
hundreds of trees in a
single day while saving
on time, crop protection
chemicals, labour and
fuel.
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necessity. Nearly one third of pest control
on Japanese rice fields are now carried
out by these remotely piloted helicopters.
The information technology revolution
that began in the 80s is all set to
fundamentally reform the way food is
grown. With advancement in sensors
and integration of sophisticated
software, the future of agriculture will be
more data driven. Field assessment,
crop health supervision, soil moisture
readings and nutrient monitoring could
be some of the main areas where UAVs
can be deployed. A recent report by
PwC estimates the addressable market
value of drones at over $32b in the
agriculture sector.
While agriculture drone prices are
steadily coming down, they are not yet
in the affordable category. Yamaha’s
sprayer helicopter costs about
$150,000 and other fixed or multi-rotor
agriculture drones cost anywhere
between $5,000-25,000. For American
farms with an average size of 434
acres, these new tools give a
competitive edge: grow more with less.
But given the Indian context of small
land holdings and multiple crops,
drones will not to be deployed here as
enthusiastically as in other countries.
Therein lies the rub. These technology
advancements will soon be a handicap
Field assessment, crop
health supervision, soil
moisture readings and
nutrient monitoring
could be some of the
main areas where UAVs
can be deployed.
to our farmers vis-à-vis a developed
country farmer growing the same crop be it corn, pulse or cotton.
The government should use this
opportunity to bring life back into its
almost extinct extension services. By
tying private sector drone operators
with Krishi Vigyan Kendras in crop
clusters, the government can share a
wealth of data with individual farmers on
standing crops on a real time basis.
Which farmer wouldn’t need information
on fast spreading pest attacks, or
nitrogen shortage or moisture stress
visible in his field? That is a worthy goal
for the government to purse. Without
these enabling technologies, we are
putting millions of lives at risk as we
continue to slide down the global
productivity ranking.
Evaluate
Only those farmers who are into high
value commercial crops such as coffee
and spices will be the early adopters as
sourcing labour at a reasonable cost
has become a major challenge in these
plantations. For all others, the
government has to step in and build an
extensive drone-based crop and soil
health surveillance programme for the
benefits of these advancements to
reach small and marginal farmers. The
government has already said that it will
be deploying drones to assess crop
losses but it is hardly sufficient.
Aruna Urs
farms in his ancestral village near Mysore and is a resident farmer of
Takshashila Institution.
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The Role of ICT in Plant Pathology
Information Communication Technology is the new boon for farmers and plant pathologists.
Spotting of plant diseases, consultation with experts, access to global data and analysis,
disease identification and remedial solutions are no longer limited by time or distance.
Agricultural landscape
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India – One of the world’s largest contributors of agricultural produce
200 million Indians are engaged in agriculture related occupation
95% of farms are less than 4 hectares each
Information sharing and knowledge gathering is a big challenge
ICT – Information
Communication Technology
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ICT bridges the gap between the farmer and the know
how to successful farming processes
ICT - a smartphone and internet linked technology
Enables a centralized database of all small farms
Updates farm data, including location, history,
seed and weather-history
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How ICT works in plant pathology
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In case of crop disease, farmer clicks a picture of the diseased foliage
Uploads image on the central repository
Scientists and plant pathologists study data and analyze it
Crop disease is identified by experts
Feedback and remedies are shared with farmer via phone
Benefits of ICT
Other benefits
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Easy access to expert opinions
Instant identification of plant disease
before it spreads
Crop loss minimization
Profit maximization
Easy scalability
Simple to use
Land laws
Farmer’s rights
Access to credit
Weather updates
Fertilizer information
Sowing, weeding and harvesting updates
Crop rotation advisory
Land optimization advisory
Market information
Better access to government services
Direct access to sell produce
Credit to Dr. Shobha Cherian Koshy
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Seeds of Thought
Smart farming - A critical factor for
next generation farming
I care for my land, and I will use Smart Agriculture to save it for my next generation
The current population of India, comprising
1.21 billion people, is almost equal to the
combined population of USA, Indonesia,
Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan. It
is likely that India’s population will exceed
1.4 billion by 2030, surpassing China’s
population and making India the world’s
most populous nation ( According to The
Population Institute).
Farming has been our primary and most
important source of food and will continue
to play a crucial role in the years to come,
irrespective of how much progress we
make and which country we live in. Every
year that passes sees advances on various
modern methods of agriculture to cope
with declining resources and advances in
technologies seen due to continued focus
on innovation. The discussion in some
ways has shifted from a singular focus on
productivity improvements based on
genetic gain, to that of use of machine
learning, digitization, soil health and
microbial applications to name a few.
With the rural reach of mobile phones and
now “smart” mobile phones, we have seen
a transformation in the ability to share
information and ever expanding content.
Our farms and farmers are beneficiaries of
this, with the constant improvement of the
information that is available in various
languages, this truly bodes well for the
farmers looking ahead and promising to
bring about a change, which may be
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difficult for us to even imagine.
Encouraging and adopting safe,
sustainable and modern technology,
combined with quality inputs such as
seeds, more effective fertilizers, water
conservation, market linkages and value
chains with other supports and
infrastructure, all supported by information
on a device which the farmer now already
has, can change the way farmer looks at
the phone. The amount of information that
can be packed/delivered on the phones
now is phenomenal and will allow farmers
to anticipate weather conditions, take
timely decisions and provide right inputs at
the right time raising the productivity bar
with efficient use of resources. As a result,
Better returns mean that
famers make better
choices for their families
in terms of education,
health care and other life
altering events.
farmers can avoid crop loss, increase
output, store produce and sell at a good
market price to get better returns. Better
returns mean that famers make better
choices for their families in terms of
education, health care and other life
altering events. It is heartening to see
several startups in agriculture space with
innovative and out-of-the-box ideas and
projects using ICT as a platform. ICT has
the potential and is already demonstrating
this, to give the required boost to leapfrog
our agriculture space from where it is
today. The machine learning tools are also
helping our plant breeding efforts, which
improve the productivity of seeds, how
they use other inputs in terms of fertilizer
and water and so on. Combining the best
genetics with all the new knowledge will
deliver the maximum value to the farmer.
These innovations are with us today!!
What we need is the biggest push in the
form of policies and a facilitating
environment to see that innovation drives
growth in agriculture and all of us see the
fruits of this effort.
Dr. Usha Zehr
Chief Technology Officer at Mahyco
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Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Private Limited
/MahycoSeeds
Email: [email protected]
/MahycoIndia
www.mahyco.com
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