Farm to fork goes digital: Indian agri on the cusp of a tech revolution

The Indian farm sector seems to be on the cusp of a digital revolution. Though digitisation, as also the use of artificial intelligence (AI), has already made significant inroads into the rural socioeconomic matrix, the proposed revamping of the Digital Agriculture Mission, with an outlay of Rs 2,817 crore, approved by the Union Cabinet last month, can be expected to take it to the next level. The extensive public digital infrastructure envisaged under this Mission is likely to impact — and, in fact, transform — almost every aspect of rural life and the economy. 

Apart from ensuring a better implementation of farmers’ welfare schemes, especially those involving direct benefit transfers, the modern information and communication technology (ICT)-based easy access to technical knowhow and experts’ advice would enable cultivators to improve their farming skills and get instant solutions to their day-to-day problems. Besides, this would help raise farm productivity with reduced cost to enhance the profitability of farming. Also, digitisation of marketing and procurement, financial transactions, and important documents and records — including land records — would diminish the scope for disputes and malpractices. Moreover, it would generate a reliable digital database to facilitate formulating farmer-centric and need-based policies and programmes for agriculture and rural development. 

Indian farmers have shown their ability and, more so, willingness to embrace new technology. The modern ICT tools are no exception. Many farmers, and most rural youths, are now routinely using cell phones, computers, and other kinds of internet-based communication systems for personal and occupational purposes. In fact, today, there are more users of mobile phones in rural areas than in cities. A recent report compiled by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, in collaboration with a digital and analytics company KANTAR, has shown that of a total of around 820 million internet users in 2023, about 442 million, or 53 per cent, were in the rural belt. This figure is projected to swell to 56 per cent by 2025. 

The uptrend in the use of mobile phones and the internet in rural areas, which had set in during the pandemic, has tended to endure. This has expedited technology transfer from laboratories and research centres to farms. Its impact is reflected in marked improvement in agronomic practices in recent years, resulting in higher farm productivity, lower input cost, and better resource-use efficiency. 

The credit for creating an ecosystem conducive to the adoption and growth of digitisation and AI-use in agriculture goes, indeed, to both public- and private-sector agencies. While the Union and state governments have come up with schemes aimed specifically to promote digitisation, private entities, such as the farmers’ producer organisations (FPOs) and various kinds of startups, have served as technology- and knowledge-providers. They are also offering vital services needed by farmers to make gainful use of digitisation and AI in boosting their net earnings from agriculture and allied activities. 

The first notable government move to use ICT for agricultural development was the launching of the Kisan Suvidha app in 2016. It provided information to farmers in five critical areas — weather, market prices, plant-protection measures, input dealers, and expert advisories, apart from connecting them to Kisan call centres, where technical experts answered their specific queries in local languages. This was followed by several other initiatives, such as the launching of Kisan e-Mitra chatbot; drone surveillance-based pest- and disease-monitoring system; satellite imagery-based crop production assessment system; and the practice of conveying information on mandi prices, weather-based agronomic advisories, and the area-specific 

schedule of crop procurement and marketing operations through text messaging (SMSs). Satellite imagery is also now being widely used to monitor crop health and soil moisture to guide farmers in scheduling irrigation, fertiliser application, and 

pesticide spraying. 

One of the highly significant public digital infrastructures being promoted under the Digital Mission is the “Agri-Stack”, which provides a digital identity to every farmer, similar to an Aadhaar card. Work on this is, in fact, already underway in various states. The other proposed digital platforms include “Krishi Decision Support System” to gather remote sensing-based information on crops, soil, weather, and water resources, and a “Digital General Crop Estimation Survey System” to enable a realistic estimation of crop yields. The Centre has signed memoranda of understanding with 19 states to build these digital facilities. 

Interestingly, digitisation promotion is getting good response from farmers. A statement issued recently by the Federation of All-India Farmers Associations has expressed the hope that digitisation would help curb the exodus of rural youths from farming. This body, representing farmers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, has also pointed out that digitisation would alleviate farmers’ distress by reducing the chances of crop failures, mitigating market uncertainties, and facilitating informed decision-making. Such reassuring reactions from the farm organisations should spur the government to further accelerate the pace of digitisation in the farm sector.

 

surinder.sud@gmail.com