Smart Agriculture can be a game-changer for the stressed agriculture sector in India. Elaborate.
Smart agriculture is the use of ICT & next gen appliances to aid in improvement of yield & quality of the crop produced.
Advantages:
- Drones can be used to survey the land and assess the yield. It would help to plan better crop management.
- GIS (geographic information system) can be used to digitize land records & settle disputes.
- Smartphone apps and broadcasting systems to deliver tailor- made advice to farmers.
- Using AI & machine learning to predict crop yield & the estimated sale price.
- Creation of National Agriculture Market as started by E-NAM.
- Using Smart Internet-of-things enabled devices, to control pump sets, and other devices remotely.
- Real-time monitoring, weather & rainfall analysis and disaster preparedness.
- Rental of harvesting equipment & happy seeder is easier.
- Home-delivery of fertilizers, seeds and weedicides.
Way forward:
While Smart-Agriculture will help achieve SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and double farmers income; but challenges of privacy, digital divide and cost of infrastructure must be addressed.
Topics: GS-III: E-Technology in the Aid of Farmers