The shift towards sustainable farming is increasingly visible across the country with the adoption of modern technologies. The transition to sustainable farming is being facilitated with tools like remote sensors, crop nutrient management, farm management software, drones, predictive data analytics, bioengineering, and more. Technologies including agri-drones, blockchain technology, agri-biologicals, farm robotics, AI and IoT in farm management, and precision farming, are contributing to the growth of sustainable farming in India.
The global sustainable agriculture market is on a trajectory to reach over $31.35 billion by 2031, exhibiting a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.17 per cent from 2023 to 2031. India has a major role in this transformative journey, where sustainable farming is emerging not just as a necessity but as an economically viable, socially supportive, and ecologically sound approach to crop cultivation. This transformation has been enabled over the past year by a synergy between government support, the complementary development of cutting-edge technologies by industry and a proactive push from the corporate sector.
To explore the milestones in the growth of the sustainable agriculture market in India, the theme of the AgroSpectrum cover story is ‘Sustainable Agriculture,’ which is consistent with the outline set by 14th Agrovision i.e. “Sustainable Farming through Skilling and Technology”. In our special Dec ’23 issue, AgroSpectrum delves deep into the realm of growing sustainable farming technologies through a series of analytical and informative articles on advancements in sustainable agriculture.
On November 6, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) in collaboration with Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Wadhwani AI) launched Krishi 24/7, the first-ever AI-powered solution for automated agricultural news monitoring and analysis, with support from Google.org. Krishi 24/7 will aid DA&FW to identify relevant news, generate timely alerts, and take prompt action to protect farmers’ interests and promote sustainable agricultural growth through improved decision-making.
The introduction of Krishi 24/7 addresses the need for an efficient mechanism to identify and manage agricultural news articles of interest to aid timely decision-making. The tool scans news articles in multiple languages and translates them into English. It extracts essential information from news articles, such as headline, crop name, event type, date, location, severity, summary, and source link, ensuring that the ministry receives timely updates on relevant events published on the web.
Wadhwani AI noted that it wants to build AI solutions for existing challenges where news monitoring and validation have been manual and time-consuming. A similar event tracking and analysis solution for disease outbreaks has been successfully deployed by the institute with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). By collaborating with the DA&FW and other central government bodies, it is dedicated to equipping the farmers with effective tools that improve the information flow through enhanced data-driven decisions.
The government of India in the last couple of years has taken various measures to provide access to technology and information across the country, through various Digital Initiatives as information technologies are finding increasing use in the agricultural value system, and farmers are increasingly becoming more informed. The aim of these measures is to achieve a doubling of farmers’ income in real terms. Keeping this in mind, the government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee in 2019, which, inter-alia, appreciated the role of Digital Technology, in modernising and organising how rural India performs its agricultural activities in a sustainable way. The technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics, Blockchain Technology, Internet of Things (IoT) etc. Using modern/advanced technologies and AI and giving accurate and timely information regarding crops, weather and insects etc. to the farmers may improve the crop productivity, reduce the risk and improve the income of farmers.
The shift towards sustainable farming is increasingly visible across the country with the adoption of modern technologies. The transition to sustainable farming is being facilitated with tools like remote sensors, crop nutrient management, farm management software, drones, predictive data analytics, bioengineering, and more. Technologies including agri-drones, blockchain technology, agri-biologicals, farm robotics, AI and IoT in farm management, and precision farming, are contributing to the growth of sustainable farming in India. Notable examples include Sikkim, achieving 100 per cent organic farming, and Andhra Pradesh’s ambitious goal to move to 100 per cent zero-budget natural farming by 2027.
The Indian corporate sector too has shown a growing commitment to building a future of sustainable agriculture. They have begun to focus on driving innovations in crop protection, post-harvest solutions, soil health improvement and planning simulations to identify and address farmers’ critical challenges. These corporate endeavours aim to provide a comprehensive solution platform to farmers, enhancing their resilience against climate risks and ensuring maximum farm yields at affordable costs. The industry’s partnership with farmers has helped them increase their yields and annual incomes.
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