e-technology to aid farmers and Technology missions

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  • E–technology is broadly understood to include the Internet and related information technologies.
  • E-Agriculture is a new area of knowledge emerging out of convergence of IT and farming techniques. It enhances the agricultural value chain through the application of Internet and related technologies. 
  • Uses of IT in agriculture:
    • Supporting new methods for precision agriculture like computerized farm machinery that applies for fertilizers and pesticides.
    • Farm animals are fed and monitored by electronic sensors and identification systems.
    • Helps farmers to have better access to information which increases the productivity: extension services.
    • Agri-Marketing- e.g. e-NAM.
    • Communication-
      • Central, state governments and private organisations have taken ICT measures for agriculture extension which include ITC- e-choupal, Kisan Kerala (An Integrated Multi-modal Agricultural Information System for Kerala), e-krishi, Village knowledge centers. 
      • Information to farmers on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides
      • Information to farmers on Govt. Schemes
      • Information to farmers on Soil recommendations
      • Information on crop management
      • Information on weather and marketing of agriculture produce
    • Access to price information, access to agriculture information, access to national and international markets, access to national and international markets.
    • Soil Management, Water Management, Seed Management, Fertilizer Management, Pest Management, Harvest Management and Post-Harvest Management are the important components of e-Agriculture where technology aids farmers with better information and alternatives.
  • Government steps to provide e-aid to farmers:
    • National Policy for Farmers, 2007- It has important provision for use of Technology.
    • National mission on agricultural extension and Technology- strengthen agricultural extension to enable delivery of appropriate technology and improved agronomic practices to farmers.
    • Kisan credit card: It uses the ICT to provide affordable credit for farmers in India. It was started by RBI and NABARD IN 1998-99 to help farmers access timely and adequate credit.
    • Kisan Choupal in collaboration with Krishi vigan Kendra is a successful model in Bihar.
      • At Kisan chouapl, the dialogue/. Discussion /.problems solving is facilitated with help of Information technologies, showing technical videos to farmers, movies, etc. at the beginning of the choupal. This has increased the awareness of farmers on cropping practises and new techniques. This has also facilitated better and wider reach of the technologies in the farmer community.
    • Kisan Call centre: An expert advisory system and the farmers needs to call the toll free number to seek expert advice on different matters related to agriculture and allied sectors.
    • Village Knowledge Centre (VKC) serves as information dissemination centre providing instant access to farmers to latest information/ knowledge available in the field of agriculture, starting from crop production to marketing. A “VKC In-charge” who looks after the operations of the VKC mans every VKC.
    • The Village resource centres (VRC) are connected to Knowledge/Expert Centres like Agricultural Universities, Skill Development Institutes and Hospitals.
      • Over 6500 programmes have been conducted by the VRCs in the areas of, Agriculture/horticulture, Fisheries, Live stock, Water resources, Tele health care, Awareness programmes, Women empowerment, Supplementary education, Computer literacy, Micro credit, Micro finance, Skill development etc.
    • E-NAM:
      • The e-trading platform for the National Agriculture Market. The e-NAM is a pan India e-trading portal to network existing APMC and other market yards to create a unified national market for agri commodities.
      • The portal will provide a single window service for all APMC related information and services.
      • The portal will connect e-mandis in several states and is aimed at ushering in much needed agri marketing reforms to enable farmers to get better price of their produce and double their income.
  • Benefits of e-aid to farmers:
    • Improved decision making: By having the necessary information, farmers—big and small can make better and more informed decision concerning their agricultural activities.
    • Better planning – IT has paved the way to come up with farming software which can keep better track of crops, predict yields, when to best plant and what to plant, to intercrop or focus on just one product, or determine the current need of the crops—just about everything needed to improve production and income.
    • Community involvement – There are several programs which are made possible by IT applications, and community involvement in agriculture can be increased as well. When a community adopts modern methods for agriculture, the production of local goods can be increased. 
    • Agricultural breakthroughs – IT makes the spread of information concerning the latest agricultural breakthroughs more possible. When scientists develop new and improved grains or find techniques to help winter crops become stronger against the cold, farmers from all over the world may benefit from the same breakthroughs simply by being connected to the rest of the agricultural world. 
    • Precision agriculture (PA) or satellite farming or site specific crop management (SSCM) is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter and intra-field variability in crops.
      • This technique focuses on utilising resources optimally to improve the quality and quantity of crops while lowering the cost of production.
  • Challenges in use of e-technology to aid farmers:
    • The reach of the technology is still very poor and large chunk of farmers are still ignorant about such advancements. The distribution of technologies is not uniform throughout the country.
    • The use of technology is being used by the already rich farmers and utilising these services they are further prospering. The small and marginal farmers are again being left out in the process of development.
    • Due to low literacy rate among farmers and digital divide, there is a rise of new class of middle man, who provide ICT services to farmers. They are also believed to distort the information for their own benefit.
    • The rural infrastructure for the use of ICT is also not uniform and lot of regional disparity persists.

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