Demystifying the scope of precision farming in Indian agriculture

The agriculture industry nowadays is turning to technology and sustainable approaches. Integrating an information technology-based farm management system enables a farmer to identify, assess and manage variability in fields by conducting crop production practices. This smart farming concept significantly helps derive maximum profitability, sustainability and protection of the land resource. As agriculture drives economic growth, it is the right time to embrace technology and agricultural science, leading to the concept of precision farming.

Socio-economic changes in countries are creating new scopes for precision agriculture application. In an India-like country, where feeding a large population and fulfilling their demands of agricultural commodities is a challenge, precision agriculture or precision farming is inevitable. Precision farming involves a combination of different technology applications, such as GPS, GIS, remote sensors, computer hardware and software, grid sampling, and more. 

 Agricultural Challenges in Today's Scenario

Today, the global food system is facing a growing set of challenges and that will become more devastating in the years ahead. Advanced use of technologies in the food system and investment in research and development is crucial to address future challenges and their solutions. The diminishing and degrading natural resources, lack of eco-regional approach, rotting farm incomes, declining and fragmented land holdings, trade liberalization on agriculture, the dearth of qualified agriculturists, limited employment opportunities in the non-farm sector, and global climatic change are major concerns in today's agricultural growth and development.

The Promise of Precision Farming

Precision farming is a rapidly emerging concept in agriculture where inputs are utilised in precise amounts to derive improved yields, compared to traditional cultivation techniques. It optimizes farm inputs and improves efficiency while lowering environmental impact. It minimizes the use of exhaustible resources and greenhouse gas emissions. Precision farming techniques help farmers to determine when and which fields need to be watered and fertilized. With the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), farm landowners can easily and precisely map out their farms. They can use appropriate software to understand the status of their crops and which part of the farm requires water or fertilizer.

Precision agriculture provides benefits as follows:

• Monitoring of the soil and plant physicochemical parameters
• Better information for management decisions
• Real-time data for farmlands
• Improved agriculture productivity
• Information on efficient use of water resources and more.

Scope of Precision Farming in Indian Agriculture

In the Indian agricultural ecosystem, this rapidly evolving farming concept promises huge opportunities. As the green revolution pushed the country to produce food on its own and meet food requirements, the technology revolution brings innovative breakthroughs. Today's farmers, or can say them the next-generation farmers, are becoming more tech-savvy, adopting new tools and techniques to yield production. These tools are beneficial in best-cultivating practices and digital communication.

Technologies such as IoT, big data, drones and robotics play a significant role in precision farming, driving precise solutions for every farmland. This farming approach should be accelerated and achieved by robust government support and policies. For 2019-20, the government has set aside US$85 million for farm mechanisation, along with US$1.7 billion to support over 90 million farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme (PM-KISAN).

Precision farming can be used in sugarcane cultivation as India is the second-largest producer of sugar and sugarcane. Considering reports, Uttar Pradesh shares the largest cane area, almost 50 percent, in the country, followed by other sugarcane-producing states. These include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab.

More broadly, precision farming will create many new opportunities for Indian farmers. It will also generate a huge resource of engineers, scientists and agriculturists to develop various technology components.