How is Agritech Improving Crop Yields and Farmer Profits in India?
Agritech term (agriculture technology) can be defined as the use of technology and innovation in agriculture, aquaculture (aquafarming), and horticulture. Farmers from all over the world use agriculture technology to improve the quality of crops, field or soil efficiency, and profitability of farming and yield growing methods.
Agritech is also an umbrella term used to mean services, products, and/or applications that are derived from or applied to agriculture. For instance, agricultural equipment, robotics, irrigation systems, pesticides, fertilizers, biotechnology, drones, data analytics, and the like. Farmers often buy such technology tools and other products from an Indian agriculture eCommerce stores such as BadiKheti to face the challenges of climate change, depletion of resources, management of soil, and prevention of biodiversity.
Latest agritech to improve crop yields and profits
Indian farmers have adapted various agriculture technologies to improve their yields and thus their overall profits from farming. Here are a few technologies to name agritech embraced by modern Indian farmers all across the country.
Smart irrigation
Smart irrigation in agritech is a technology that uses automated sensors and data to optimize the use of water in agriculture. Indian farmers use smart irrigation systems to monitor crop growth, soil moisture, weather, and other aspects to adjust water releaseas per the needs of the crops. Ultimately, it reduces water waste and saves costs along with improving crop yields and quality. Smart irrigation also enables farmers to cope with atmospheric changes such as droughts and water scarcity as they use water more efficiently and sustainably.
Drones and robots
Agritech improves agricultural sustainability and productivity. Indian agricultural practices promote the use of agritech such as drones, robots or agbots, and planes to improve crop yields and profits which are a few innovations to help Indian farmers in various ways:
- Collect data on weather conditions, soil moisture, pests and diseases, and crops condition
- Perform tasks on the ground like spraying water and medicines, planting or sowing, seeding, and harvesting
- Increase efficiency and save money in labor costs while improving crop quality and yield
- Adapt to climate change and provide real-time data and solutions for climate challenges
- Watering or irrigation of crops in extreme weather conditions where humans cannot perform the tasks
Agro-biotechnology
Agro-biotechnology, an application of biological processes and organisms, is to manufacture or modify agricultural products like pesticides, nutrients, and other products for crops, and livestock. Biotechnology can help Indian agriculture bring astounding outcomes such as:
- Enhanced crop productivity and quality as it is possible to develop hybrid varieties that can withstand pests, salinity, diseases, drought, and other stresses.
- Increased crop resilience and diversity as it introduces new traits and genes from more than one source including wild relatives or microorganisms.
- Reduced use of chemical inputs and thus environmental impacts as biotechnology develops crops that require smaller quantities of herbicide, water, fertilizer, and pesticide.
- Augmented products and processes from agricultural waste and biomass like enzymes, bioremediation agents, biofuels, and bioplastics.
Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things
Agriculture contributes to nearly 17% of the GDP and employs over 50% of the workforce in India. However, the sector faces many challenges including pest infestation, low produce, climatic change, water scarcity, and post-harvest losses. To address these concerns and improve the efficiency and profitability of Indian agriculture, AI and IoT technologies are adopted.
AI and IoT can help Indian farmers in various aspects of the agricultural value chain:
- Crop monitoring and management: AI and IoT can gather real-time data and analyzeseveral parameters including pest activities, humidity levels, soil moisture, temperature, crop health, and rainfall. These technologies help farmers optimize their farming through planned irrigation, harvesting, fertilization, and pest control as per various conditions.
- Precision agriculture: Precision can be brought into agricultural practices through the use of AI and IoT. For instance, evaluating the right amountof water, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. at the right time and place for each plant or plot can improve seed performance and make a big difference in crop yields. Thus, with AI and IoT, farmers can reduce wastage, increase yield, and enhance quality.
- Supply chain optimization: AI and IoT enable supply chain optimization as the technologies can improve the traceability, QC, storage, transportation, and distribution of farming products. The technologies help farmers reduce post-harvest losses by ensuring food safety, and increasing Indian agriculture marketplaces.
Customized mobile app
Customized mobile app for agriculture creates applications that run on mobile devices to provide various benefits to agriculture. In India, where agriculture is a primary source of revenue and livelihood for hundreds of thousands of people, customized mobile app enables farmers to increase their profits in several ways.
The ways that customized mobile app can help Indian farmers:
- Provides access to real-time information on climate, marketplace prices, crop infections, pest control, government policies, etc. Mobile applications help farmers to make informed decisions on what and how to grow plants, where to sell them with the best profits, and how to face challenges.
- Enables direct communication and transactions between farmers and buyers by removing the needs of middlemen and, therefore, reduces the overall costs. It can help farmers have more prices for their produce and keep exploitation by intermediaries at bay.
- Offers online training and education on best agricultural practices, newer technologies, organic farming, and the like. Farmers in India can improve their skills and knowledge by adopting innovative methods.
- Facilitates financial inclusion such as credit, insurance policies, government subsidies, and so on. Farmers, with the help of custom-made mobile apps, can overcome financial constraints by managing risks, and investing in their farms.
- Creates platforms for farmer community engagement and social networking to share their experiences, gain knowledge, and collaborate on common concerns to build solidarity.
- Agriculture marketplace mobile app such as BadiKheti, helps Indian farmers to buy quality seeds, fertilizers, growth promoters, and many other agriculture products online at a cost effective rate.
The role of agritech in Indian agriculture cannot be ignored today, and with the current pace of adoption, it seems that various advanced technologies in agriculture will only increase and become more popular. Contemporary technologies and high-end agriculture equipment enabled by the latest features will help farmers improve crop yields and profits in India.
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