The agriculture industry in India is on the verge of a breakthrough. The Indian agriculture industry is undergoing a massive upheaval, if not a revolution, right now. The Green Revolution was a game-changing effort that catapulted agriculture to the fore of India's economy. If agricultural industrialisation and efforts such as the Green Revolution propelled agriculture to the fore, a new wave of technical innovation and new-age entrepreneurs is transforming agriculture as we know it.
Agriculture and related sectors currently account for 17-18% of the country's GDP. India's population is expected to exceed 1.6 billion by 2050, according to studies. As a result, it is critical that we prioritise agriculture and related industries in order to increase productivity and meet the needs of India's rising population.
The Indian agricultural scene is quickly changing due to technological advancements and new-age enterprises. Artificial intelligence, smart applications, mobile apps, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are now more accessible than ever, and the agriculture business is rapidly adopting technology. These modifications offer a number of advantages, including making farming more cost-effective and sustainable, as well as helping to increase production, productivity, and waste reduction.
How the Internet of Things (IoT) is Changing Agriculture
Waste management, drones for field management, machines for regular monitoring, and soil monitoring sensors are the four primary categories of IoT in agriculture, depending on their application and usage.
Here Are a Few Examples of How IoT Is Being Utilised In Agriculture:
Agricultural Sensors: Today's IoT-enabled sensors can provide farmers with a complete study of the terrain as well as the available resources in a given region. Farmers may use smart farming sensors to collect data on soil quality, temperature, humidity, ammonia content, and other factors. It offers data on moisture, temperature, electric conductivity, soil pH, and organic matter content in real time, allowing for real-time soil monitoring. It's also useful in the animal husbandry industry to keep track of the types of micro-environments available to cattle.
Smart Greenhouses: An IoT-enabled smart greenhouse monitors and changes numerous factors including temperature, lighting, humidity, and watering automatically. It can be operated and monitored remotely utilising the Internet of Things and linked devices, obviating the requirement for physical labour.
Water Management: It is an important aspect of agriculture. Farmers may use IoT-based sensors to get information on crop requirements, climatic conditions, and soil moisture content, which can help them enhance their irrigation system.
Livestock Tracking And Management: IoT-based sensors can offer detailed information on the health, well-being, temperature, activity, and nutritional status of animals, which can assist to reduce disease transmission.
Smart Farming using Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Apps
In the future decades, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven data points will be a critical determining element in farming. Precision agriculture and farm management, pest control, agricultural robotics, automated weeding, and crop quality detection powered by AI will assist enhance operational efficiency and make farming smart, predictive, and intelligent through a unified supply chain. In the animal husbandry arena, AI is also playing a critical role in symptom detection, allowing for faster diagnosis so that livestock is not harmed by a big factor and severe epidemics may be prevented early. To fully profit from AI-driven technology, the Indian agricultural sector must address two issues: improved internet infrastructure in rural regions and good data management.
Farming's next stage of development is smart applications. There is a proliferation of mobile-based smart apps throughout the whole agricultural ecosystem as the number of agritech start-ups grows. B2B farming stores that provide a platform for farmers to sell their produce at good prices, GPS tracking apps that provide key performance indicators to optimise yields, peer to peer information for a closely knit community of farmers that facilitates information sharing, and weather forecasting apps that predict weather changes in advance are all examples of mobile apps in the agricultural space.
With the changing environmental circumstances in India, it's more crucial than ever to be climate resilient. Farmers may use mobile applications to get accurate weather predictions and track shifting weather trends. Farmers may also use mobile applications to monitor crops, manage water, manage animals, and improve productivity and operational efficiency.
Farmers may also get precise information on crop quality, pest management, and animal health and feeding through a variety of apps.
Smart farming is becoming a reality, thanks to internet adoption in rural regions and availability to smart phones. Farmers may take data-driven decisions using a farm management solution thanks to mobile app-enabled digital farming. These cutting-edge applications and start-ups give farmers with crop data and insights, as well as satellite input-based advice and operational efficiency.
Ensuring Delivery To The Last Mile
The effectiveness of IoT-enabled, AI-driven, and smart app-driven agricultural revolution will be significantly reliant on two factors: digital infrastructure and farmer last-mile connectivity. With agriculture's rapid digital transformation, the government, NGOs, and private sector must work together to provide end-to-end farmer-centric solutions, including technological education, developing a rural digital infrastructure, and providing access to the newest tools and technologies.
