India accommodates 17% of the total world population. It can be challenging for our country to feed the ever-growing population in the long term. Hence, there is an urgent need to upgrade from our traditional farming practices to smarter ones. A modern farming concept like precision farming promises more productivity with limited agricultural resources.
What is Precision Farming?
Precision farming is the precise application of agricultural inputs to the crops for increasing their productivity and profitability. It allows farmers to use inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and water more efficiently. The agricultural practice involves the use of technologies like GPS, Remote Sensing, and GIS (Geographical Information System). To put it precisely, precision farming is doing the right thing, in the right way at the right time.
Benefits of Precision Farming
- It promotes sustainable agriculture by ensuring the effective usage of agricultural products. It further results in enhanced productivity and reduced soil degradation.
- Water resources are carefully utilized and conserved with precision farming.
- The use of chemicals can be minimized in crop production.
- Agricultural fields can be surveyed for soil characteristics and crop yield with ease.
- The information provided by various techniques can be used for improving the quality and quantity of crops. It also reduces the cost of crop production.
- Reduced usage of agrochemical products minimizes environmental risks as well.
- It reduces the wastage of resources and helps in better resource management.
Techniques used in Precision Farming
- GPS (Global Positioning System) – GPS allows the mapping of farms with the appropriate software. It allows the farmers to be informed about the status of their crops i.e., which part requires what amount of agricultural inputs.
- GIS (Geographic Information System) – GIS stores, retrieves, and shows geographical data.
- Grid sampling – It is a method of breaking a field into grids. Soil samples are taken from each grid and sent for laboratory testing. It determines the rate of application of fertilizers.
- Remote sensing – Imageries from remote sensors can be used for detecting the type of soil and its properties, crop species, crop yields, monitoring of weeds and diseases.
- Computer hardware and software – The data collected from other Precision Agriculture technologies needs to be accessed in useful formats like graphs, maps, reports, etc. Hence, computer support is required along with specific software.
Precision Farming In India
No matter how smart and rich we become, we would still need to consume food. A sustainable, high-productive, and high-tech agriculture is required to provide food and security to the country. The adoption of precision agriculture can help greatly.
Despite being profitable, it is still at its initial stage in India. TKK (Tata Kisan Kendra), an initiative by TCL aims to get farmers closer to precision farming. The services they provide use remote sensing for soil analysis, examining crop health, and crop yield predictions.
Slowly but steadily, India is making gains in agri-tech industries. Many reputed organizations are developing agri-tech solutions for mandi traders also. One such innovation is ChargeERP, a solution by Bijak, India’s No.1 agri-trading app. ChargeERP is cloud-based accounting software for agricultural traders such as commission agents. It is a one-stop accounting platform that cuts down the accounting time by almost 90%. Some of its key advantages are:
- Access from anywhere
- 100% control over data
- Data security guaranteed
- Manage team remotely
- Regional language support
- Multi-device access
- Inventory management
- WhatsApp sharing of Reports
- Six all-inclusive reports
- Downloadable Bills & Receipts
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