Today, the wave of digital
transformation is buffeting the shore of almost every sector. Agriculture
is no exception. The landscape of farming is veering to 'digital agriculture,
which is about sourcing and leveraging the correct data and building insights
out of it for transformative outcomes. Digital
agriculture is characterized by the confluence of different agriculture
technologies (also called AgriTech)
like robotics, drone technology,
weather monitoring via satellite imagery and precision application of water and
chemicals. Since data is central to changing the culture of agriculture, the
farms and farmers will need Smart sensors, satellite imagery, and other
cloud-based technologies for recording data during crop planting, harvesting,
maximizing production output, and checking the anomalies on the ground. The use
of these smart technologies in tandem has given rise to ‘connected
agriculture’, the market for which is expected to grow by $3.61 billion from
2021 to 2026.
Lack
of Ground Truth Data- Why Digital Integration Alone Won’t Suffice
The lack of accurate and timely ground-level data on crop
yield, which is a barometer of crop harvest, can contribute to an agrarian
crisis. The conventional methods of data capture lean heavily on averaging and
approximation, leading to poor estimation, false representation and inaccuracy
of crop yield. The next worry for farmers and other stakeholders is the
post-harvest challenge of procurement.
Many governments have digitized the farm-to-fork chain,
creating farm registries and integrating them with the land records database to
ensure the benefits go to authentic farmers. However, this digital integration
has not proved to be a cure-all.
To illustrate, the actual status of land may not be
similar to what is registered on papers. A patch of forest land can be
registered as farmland. This data mismatch gives the scope for traders and
intermediaries to manipulate data and avail the benefits of the MSP (Minimum
Support Price) regime, which ought to have gone to farmers. Picture the scene
of Indian agriculture- a sector that supports the livelihoods of 60 per cent of
the population has 82 per cent small or marginalized farmers with limited
access to high-end technology.
An essential step towards improving
agricultural production and systemic resilience is the widespread use of more
accurate, timely and applicable crop analytics. It enables farmers to make
prudent farm management decisions. It can also form the foundational premise
for governments to craft better and outcome centric policies, targeting the
intended beneficiaries.
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