Reinventing Indian Agriculture Through IoT And AI : Daily Current Affairs

Date: 29/11/2022

Relevance: GS-3: Technology missions in Agriculture. Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Phrases: Technology-Based Solutions, Increasing Operational Efficiencies, National Agriculture Market, India Digital Ecosystem Of Agriculture, National Mission For Sustainable Agriculture, National E-Governance Plan In Agriculture.

Why in News?

Over the last decade, the Indian agri ecosystem has gone through a rapid transformation, made possible due to the emergence of the agtech segment, creating many investment opportunities which in turn has resulted in production increasing and logistics turning efficient.

Key Highlights:

Advances in agtech are hugely relevant to the country’s economy today.
The agriculture sector, which is worth $370 billion, continues to remain the primary source of livelihood for more than 40 percent of the population while contributing 19.9 percent (FY 2021) to the national GDP.
The agtech segment, in particular, has attracted a surge of start-ups that are offering technology-based solutions, thereby allowing large-scale traditional enterprises to focus on increasing operational efficiencies.
While the Covid-19 pandemic hampered business dynamics across industries, the agriculture sector remained largely unaffected, rather putting them on an upwards growth trajectory.
The consistently growing demand for food has further improved the potential for expanding market reach for farmers and agribusinesses in the country.

Status of agtech segment in India:

Agriculture start-ups:
- As on March 2022, according to industry estimates, India is said to have over 1,000 agriculture start-ups in agtech, employing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), etc.
Funding:
- India has received a total funding of $1.6 billion in agtech startups till 2021, making it the third largest in the world with regard to such funding.
Private equity (PE) investments:
- The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with Bain & Company, jointly prepared a report in March 2022 which indicates that private equity (PE) investments are primarily focused on systemic issues in the agtech industry and its sustainable development.
- Private equity investments in agtech startups between 2017 and 2020 amounted to ₹66 billion, with a growth rate of over 50 per cent.

Reforms and government initiatives:

Both Union and state governments are working in tandem to promote agtech in the country.
The Digital India initiative has helped the rural economy connect globally.
Various reform initiatives have been launched to boost farm revenue in the country, including-
- National Agriculture Market (eNAM - a pan-India electronic trading platform);
- India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA - an Agristack system for growing farmer income);
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA – aimed at increasing Agri output by integrating sustainable technologies)
- National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGPA – for funding modern technologies including AI, ML, drones and Blockchain).

Agritech Business Models:

Driven by increasing internet penetration in rural India, India stands at the forefront of changing methodologies in agriculture while transitioning from conventional business models to various innovative business models driven by agritech.
Emerging business models across the agriculture value chain can be broadly classified into the following three categories:
1. Margin-based: Players create market linkage on the inputs or output side, and earn margins on the buy or sell side
2. Subscription-based: Players offering a mix of hardware, software, and services to help farmers improve crop yield, and track the quality of produce while tracing the produce across the value chain
3. Transaction-based: Players charge on the number of transactions served such as a loan and insurance policies.

Broad Categories of agtech applications: Application of AI, ML, IoT, and Blockchain in Indian agriculture may be classified into three broad categories:

Crop and soil health monitoring: Businesses that are leveraging sensors and various IoT-based technologies to monitor crop and soil health.
Predictive analytics: Several AI and machine learning tools are used to predict the optimal time to sow seeds, get alerts on risks from pest attacks, etc.
Supply chain efficiencies: Businesses that are using real-time data analytics from multiple sources to build an efficient and smart supply chain.

Use of Smart applications in agriculture:

The use of smart applications in agriculture helps in the better utilisation of resources.
With the use of applications, the quality and quantity of the crops can be easily checked and Digital Professional Warehouse Management Solution enabled with instant, transparent, and auditable agri quality, as well as supply chain reports.
In addition, data about crop health, including types and extents of disease manifestations, can also be tracked.
In this way, farmers can mitigate damage and subsequent costs in a timely manner.

How agritech is heralding a massive shift in gender roles?

The agritech sector is leading the way for women to become a part of the ongoing agricultural revolution by laying down the groundwork for gender-smart new-age solutions that are flexible and inclusive.
Women have always been an essential part of the agricultural workforce but a number of sociological and economic hurdles have hitherto restricted their roles, thus, limiting their responsibilities and opportunities.
However, technological interventions can help in overcoming these challenges and spur the formation of gender-inclusive frameworks that can encourage the participation of women in the agritech workforce.
The agricultural sector offers enormous prospects for women professionals, across verticals like processing, sales, marketing and other post-harvest domains.
The agritech sector also offers immense scope for women to traverse into managerial and leadership roles in agriculture, especially in the post-harvest space.
With a slew of appropriate policies and programmes being enacted into action, India is witnessing the rise of a digitalised agricultural vista that is heralding a new dawn of economic empowerment and social upliftment for countless women.
By aggressively hiring talent from across the lengths of the country and extending opportunities to daughters of farmers to join the agritech community, agriculture technology is also introducing them to various deep tech technologies which they otherwise might not get a chance to access.

Conclusion:

Considering the impact of agtech and its tremendous growth potential in India’s overall economy, it can help further the development of farmers, consumers and enterprises.
A huge surge in the emergence of agtech start-ups is being witnessed in India, driven by advanced technology penetration coupled with a conducive policy environment.
This can only be seen as a starting point for the penetration of advanced technologies like AI, ML, IoT and Blockchain in the agriculture ecosystem.
These collective technologies come as a great boon to the agricultural sector which is heavily reliant on unpredictable climatic conditions.
More cases of AI, ML, IoT and Blockchain in agriculture are likely to show up in the coming decades due to their immense value addition.

Source: Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. Examine the role the agricultural technology can play in revolutionising Indian Agriculture and transforming the lives of farmers. (150 words)