Digital ecosystem of agriculture top priority for govt: Sanjay agarwal, secretary-agriculture
Confederation of Indian Industry organised a two-day virtual conference and exhibition on New Innovations and Digital Technologies – IntelAgri 2.0.
Addressing the inaugural session, Chief Guest Mr Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, said, “The government has identified technology as a priority sector and has made provisions for utilising new digital technologies in the agriculture sector. Our objective is to build a national digital agriculture ecosystem, to elevate Indian agriculture sector to higher levels of efficiency and productivity, and to improve welfare and income of farmers. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund would facilitate in strengthening the agricultural infrastructure, development and improvement of warehouses, cold storage, pack houses and marketing facilities in the rural areas, which would enhance the income of farmers and boost rural economy.”
He added, “We have also prepared a Consultation Paper on India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) with a view to keep farmers at the centre of agro-ecology by promoting free digital technologies. Recognizing the importance of digitization in agriculture, the department is preparing a centralised farmers database and formulating various services based on it in order to create a digital ecosystem for agriculture. A database with the details of about 5 crore farmers has been prepared so far. It is expected that the database will soon be completed by incorporating the details of all landholding farmers into it. The government is proceeding fast on an ideal path of improving farmers’ lives by increasing their income,” he said.
Dr Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, said, Technology is evolving in almost every aspect of our modern lives. Agriculture technology will be ever more digital and computerized in the coming future. The future of irrigation depends on smart metering. This technology is one of the keys to increase irrigation efficiency. In the coming years, more and more agricultural organizations will choose to water their land on the basis of their crops’ needs and the moisture content of the soil. This is what most of the tech experts call smart irrigation, the future of farming technology.”
“The challenge today is not only to increase production and cut costs but getting data of farming operations which can help take informed decisions. Remote sensing technology in itself is ground-breaking because it offers information on the state of the crops without deploying any assets. Both smart irrigation and meter technology indicate more data should be available and ready to be analysed. Thus, data irrigation will be one of the primary trends in the coming years,” he said.
Mr Abhimanyu Munjal, Chairman, CII Northern Region and Joint Managing Director & CEO, Hero Fincorp, said, “New technologies promise a greener approach to food production and focus on more plant-based, year-round, local, and intensive production. Done right, three technologies – vertical, cellular, and precision agriculture – can remake the relationship to land and food. Credit is an important contributor to the agricultural production and if it reaches the farmers in a right way at the right time, the increase in agricultural production and the increased share of agricultural produce in the GDP can be well achieved. Agricultural NBFCs are playing a great role in extending credit facility using the crop as collateral and against storage receipts of agriculture commodities.
Mr Pravesh Sharma, Board of Director, Samunnati Agro Solutions Pvt Ltd, said, “While the pandemic has affected growth of almost all sectors, the agriculture sector has shown encouraging signs of growth and resilience. In fact, agriculture is the only sector to register growth. To move to the vision of Agriculture 2.0, we must address the issue of indebtedness which in some states is touching close to 1 lakh rupees per farm household. This limits the capacity of farm households to invest in agriculture technology. We must focus on recognising the role of aggregation and this is one of the major areas of investment both for public and private sector which will help us move towards Agriculture 2.0. Also, there is a need to recapitalise agriculture and look at market integration.
Mr Rajesh Srivastava, Chairman, CII IntelAgri 2021 & Executive Chairman, Rabo Equity Advisors, said, “Advanced technologies can revolutionise the agriculture sector in India and are thus the need of the hour. The uptake of technologies at market prices in a sector that has traditionally been heavily subsidized remains challenging, but farmers are prompt to identify what works in their interest and are ready to pay for it. the private sector working in tandem with the government towards investments and scalability of technology will be a game-changer for the agriculture sector.”
Digital ecosystem of agriculture top priority for govt: Sanjay agarwal secretary-agriculture
Mr Ajay S. Shriram, Past President, CII & Chairman & Sr Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd, said, “Data-driven approaches integrating AI and machine learning with big data technologies and high-performance computing could drive agricultural productivity while minimising its environmental impact. The deployment of AI technology in Indian agriculture is still a distant dream, given the peculiarities like small‐size farms, traditional farming methods, lack of credit, storage facilities, and the decision maker’s risk‐seeking attitude. IntelAgri 2.0 encourages the eco-system to re-vitalise their priorities on understanding the use and adoption of digital technology and thereby promote new innovations in the agri sector.”
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