Farming techniques around the world are undergoing a massive change. With reduced costs and easier accessibility, there has been a dynamic shift towards using technology-based farming solutions over traditional cultivating practices.
This new phenomenon, also known as smart agriculture, relies on information from various sources and equipment for efficient farming.
Combining information technology, telecommunications, sensor technologies, and automation, smart agriculture uses IoT and big data to help implement effective and smarter cultivating techniques.
Smart agriculture sees a number of applications in areas such as crop health, soil vitals, and precision farming. These systems help optimize farming techniques by reducing wastage and increasing overall profits.
Smart agriculture sees a number of applications in areas such as crop health, soil vitals, and precision farming. These systems help optimize farming techniques by reducing wastage and increasing overall profits.
It is also a great solution for some of the major issues faced by Indian cultivators. Take the example of the coffee plantation that partnered with smart irrigation start-up Avanijal. Spread across 1.5 acres, the plantation faced issues with its irrigation system as using manual labour was inefficient and expensive and led to a loss of water and other resources.
That’s where the start-up came into play. By developing an app-based product which used IoT, the company provided the plantation’s manager and proprietor with an automated irrigated solution that allowed them to preset irrigation schedules and provide reports with just their smartphones.
Despite these advantages however, smart agriculture has also seen a fair share of drawbacks.
One of the biggest challenges it faces is the lack of awareness that exists among people. As a new and disruptive technology, many farmers are cautious of utilizing smart agriculture methods to replace tried and tested approaches.
Another major roadblock is the difficulty posed by cost and a lack of scalability. Expensive products may not always fit exact requirements leading to many people avoiding these methods and equipment altogether.
All-in-all, the idea of smart agriculture has enormous potential in the years to come. With over 70% of the Indian population depending on agriculture and 75% residing in rural areas, there certainly are a range of benefits to adopting these new farming methods. In fact, start-ups like OpenCube in Bangalore and AgNext Technologies have already started developing IoT products for farm applications. The Indian Government has also shown interest in the use of IoT for digitizing farms as seen in a draft policy in 2015.
So, is smart agriculture the next stage in a farming revolution? Only time will tell.