Advanced Farming Technologies That Revolutionized Agriculture!
Centuries ago, agriculture was a term that only referred to production of essential food crops. Now this term has a much wider contrast, production, processing, marketing and distribution of livestock products. All under one term!
Focus on development and you will realize that agricultural growth is an important step toward economic development and transformation. Even with the vast amount of challenges that agriculture faces today due to a more globalized environment, it still leads as the chief contributor to development and is the backbone to the economy of most countries.
Agriculture, Playing A Vital Role in Indian Economy
Let’s examine the case of India to understand the significance. Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood. Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, accounts for one-third of the nation’s GDP and is its single largest contributor.
Agriculture not only provides food and raw material but also employs a majority of the labor force in most developing countries.
So let’s point down a few basic contributions from the agriculture sector :
Employment opportunity : Agricultural sector being the largest also provides the most number of job opportunities. May it be construction of irrigation projects, drainage systems or any other related work, the role of human labor is vast. With the fast growing population and high frequency of unemployment, the significance of this sector grows day by day.
Contribution to the Economy : Agriculture has always been the backbone of most of the economies. In India the Agriculture and Allied Sectors (Including agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishery sub sectors) contributes to 13.9% of the total GDP. This sector is a heavy contributor to the national income.
Supply of Food and Fodder : Agricultural sector provides fodder for livestock which in turn meets the food requirements of people. Thus feeding the country as well as help with its development.
Importance of International Trade : It is the agricultural sector that feeds country’s trade. Agricultural products like tea, sugar, rice, tobacco, spices etc. constitute the main items of exports of India. If the development process of agriculture is smooth, export increases and imports are reduced considerably. Thus, it helps to reduce the adverse balance of payments and save our foreign exchange.
Source of Raw Material : Agriculture has been the root of raw materials to many prominent industries like cotton and jute textiles, sugar, tobacco, edible and non-edible oils etc. All these depend unswervingly on agriculture.
Multiple Factors Working in Tandem To The Growth Of Agriculture!
There are multiple factors that have predominantly worked in tandem leading to the growth of the agriculture sector in recent years. Increasing private participation; growing organic farming and usage of information technology are the trends that are being witnessed by the agriculture industry.
Let’s discuss a few of the advanced technologies that are used in farms today:
- Tractors on autopilot : Advancement in technology has bought us to this era. The farmer drive a short distance setting points A & B as a line on the system, after this the GPS system will have a track to follow and it generalizes that line into parallel lines set apart by the width of the tool in use. These systems are capable of tracking curved lines as well. The tracking system is tied to the tractor’s steering, automatically keeping it on track freeing the operator from driving.
2. Irrigate Via Smart phone : Smart phones are capable of everything in the new world. Moisture sensors in the ground alert farmers on their phones of the moisture levels at certain areas so that they can control the water provisions in their fields. Sensors to detect soil composition help to keep track over the fertilizer provision. It’s all about effective management of resources.
3. Crop sensors : This is taking variable rate technology to the next level. Instead of making a prescription fertilizer map for a field before you go out to apply it, crop sensors tell application equipment how much to apply in real time. It’s fairly new and pretty expensive, but there is huge potential here.
4. Biotechnology (Genetic Engineering): Genetic engineering still sparks massive controversies, but experts are of the opinion, in order to supply the world of tomorrow with food and natural resources, this is the unbeatable option. Genetically engineered super-plants designed for the implementation in monocultures prevent the reduction of diversity and economic sovereignty. Various traits are induced into genetically engineered plants, like herbicide and pest resistance.
5. Drone Farming : Using drones for crop surveillance can drastically increase farm crop yields while minimizing the cost of walking the fields or airplane fly-over filming. Seeing the true health of your field in a color contrast allows you to see how much sunlight is being absorbed by the crop canopy.
These are just a few amongst the vast number of technologically advanced practices used in the agricultural field today.
