Agriculture Information Makes Ideas Possible
Why does an IT guy make crores debuting as a farmer whereas a traditional farmer barely survives in his ancestral profession? Because the IT person has the means, he has cracked the loan algorithm, he has minute-to-minute updates on his smartphone and he is acquainted with the authorities. To sum it he has his know-how at the tap of a finger in a language that he comprehends.
Picture the predicament of Surjeet, a farmer in Madhya Pradesh, who has been relatively pleased this year with his choice of crop and irrigation mechanism. He has even beneficially negotiated the terms of sales of his Kharif crop, but just 3 days before the harvest, he was struck by a hailstorm that he had no notion of.
Information Is Key For Any Business
Farming is not just about sowing the seed and reaping the harvest, it’s about various other peripherals that are taught in a farm school. With the advent of technology, there is a lot more you could reap from the same harvest; manoeuvre with advanced machinery, you could tend to soil degradation and land silting, crop rotation, best prices to buy your seeds and sell your grains at, and most of all, financial aspects of farming. Equipped with information one could increase crop yields organically, protect against dishonest dealers, market better, enable community farming to increase farmed area, optimise irrigation technology and leverage from marketing options.
The need of the hour is an information extensive system that could help farmers address some of these beaten-to-death issues. Whilst digitization is overtaking all aspects of life, it is the dearth of information that needs to be tackled first.
The Dichotomy of Abundance
Think of a supermarket where you are spoilt for choice despite all information available on the cover, how would an untaught farmer know the difference amongst the mind-boggling varieties of hybrids and varieties of seeds flooding the markets daily. The only practical option is to educate them and let them make informed decisions. Preparing the soil, irrigation and cultivation go hand in hand with the seed selection and farmers will need to be trained on a winning combination of the same. Solution powered by technology is no longer a new experience.
Information services are changing every industry around us, every aspect of our life is transformed in the last decade; like health, hospitality, construction and manufacturing. Farming is a booming industry worldwide, only in India, it hasn’t yet come of age. There is lack of guidance and a library of science can ensure building that bridge where a farmer can receive regular advisories on precautionary measures to prevent losses due to pests, selection and overuse of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs.
Innovating the Food Bowl
Unpredictable as the weather — It is a commonly known weather phenomenon that while it is raining in one half of the city the other might be fairly dry. As such, a common update to all farmers in a state is as good as no information at all. Time is of essence mandating region-specific weather conditions providing coverage at the granular level. Decentralising and making information available is a service available wanting to be used.
At times, farmers themselves serve as the night-watchmen after a day’s toilsome labour. If contingency calls are provided and sudden changes in the weather conditions are notified to the farmer, the loss of harvest overnight can be reduced to some extent.
Middlemen and commission agents have been the archaic rodents of the economy. Though e-commerce has changed lives of the consumer, it has not helped the farmer much. In essence, there is demand for a market that bridges the gap between the feeder and the diner by updating farmers about existing market prices and mandis where maximum profits can be obtained.
The issues listed above are well known and well debated and over the years several policies and schemes have been formulated by the government to benefit the small and marginal farmers in India. But due to lack of symmetry in information and absence of robust communication channels the farmer is not profiting from the government schemes.
The Indian agrarian industry is ridden with many maggots but the biggest is lack of knowledge that the far reach of technology could remedy. It is not the privilege of a lucky few, it is there for all to access and all to reap the benefits of blockchain technology in agriculture too. It is what the world is embracing and there is no good reason why India should hold back.
