Indian Agriculture Problems in Agriculture Sector of India low. Poorly maintained irrigation systems

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1 Indian Agriculture Agriculture in India has a significant history. Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 13.9% of the GDP in 2012, about 60% of the total workforce. The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socioeconomic fabric of India. As per 2010 FAO world agriculture statistics, India is the world's largest producer of many fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, major spices, select fresh meats, select fibrous crops such as jute, several staples such as millets and castor oil seed. India is the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's major food staples.[2] India is also the world's second or third largest producer of several dry fruits, agriculture-based textile raw materials, roots and tuber crops, pulses, farmed fish, eggs, coconut, sugarcane and numerous vegetables. India ranked within the world's five largest producers of over 80% of agricultural produce items, including many cash crops such as coffee and cotton, in India is also one the world's five largest producers of livestock and poultry meat, with one of the fastest growth rates, as of One report from 2008 claimed India's population is growing faster than its ability to produce rice and wheat. Other recent studies claim India can easily feed its growing population, plus produce wheat and rice for global exports, if it can reduce food staple spoilage, improve its infrastructure and raise its farm productivity to those achieved by other developing countries such as Brazil and China. Problems in Agriculture Sector of India "Slow agricultural growth is a concern for policymakers as some two-thirds of India s people depend on rural employment for a living. Current agricultural practices are neither economically nor environmentally sustainable and India's yields for many agricultural commodities are low. Poorly maintained irrigation systems and almost universal lack of good extension services are among the factors responsible. Farmers' access to markets is hampered by poor roads,

2 rudimentary market infrastructure, -and excessive regulation." - World Bank: "India Country Overview 2008" A 2003 analysis of India s agricultural growth from 1970 to 2001, by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, identified systemic problems in Indian agriculture. For food staples, the annual growth rate in production during the six-year segments , , , , were found to be respectively 2.5, 2.5, 3.0, 2.6, and 1.8 percent per annum. Corresponding analyses for the index of total agricultural production show a similar pattern, with the growth rate for attaining only 1.5 percent per annum. The low growth rates may constitute in part a response to inadequate returns to Indian farmers. India has very poor rural roads affecting timely supply of inputs and timely transfer of outputs from Indian farms, inadequate irrigation systems, crop failures in some parts of the country because of lack of water while in other parts because of regional floods, poor seed quality and inefficient farming practices in certain parts of India, lack of cold storage and harvest spoilage causing over 30% of farmer's produce going to waste, lack of organized retail and competing buyers thereby limiting Indian farmer's ability to sell the surplus and commercial crops. The Indian farmer receives just 10 to 23 percent of the price the Indian consumer pays for exactly the same produce, the difference going to losses, inefficiencies and middlemen traders. Farmers in developed economies of Europe and the United States, in contrast, receive 64 to 81 percent of the price the local consumer pays for exactly the same produce in their supermarkets. India is a vast country having 20 agro climatic zones with lots of diversity. We can find coldest (temp. minus 40 degrees) as well as hottest place (temp. plus 55 degrees) in India. Cherapunji in Meghalaya is one of the world highest rainfall receiving place in India, where as Leh Ladhak are the worlds driest places in India. Due to this vast diversity in geographical location and climate, a large no. of diverse crops are grown in India, which are mainly categorized under 2 categories: 1. Rabi Crop - November to April (Wheat, Mustard, Barley) 2. Kharif Crop - June to November (Paddy, Sugarcane, Maize, Millet, Sorghum, pulses, Sunflower, Soya bean)

3 The other major crops grown are cotton, Mango, Banana, Grapes, Orange, Apple, Litchi, Cashew nut, Groundnut, Coconut, etc. These crops are also spread according to latitude and altitude of India. Some crops come under major course, while some are cash crops. Some require precision farming, while some requires less scientific farming. But, since the productivity of crops are very less as compared to other developed countries, we require good scientific technology and instruments which can give quick result, and based on the result, some quick agro advisory can be generated. The major ICT intervention can be done under four categories: 1. Climate 2. Soil 3. Crops disease 4. Post harvest technology. If we would be able to provide farmers, accurate, crops and location specific on time advisory, based on the data gathered from portable, digital and quick result giving instruments with high precision, then it would be really beneficial. India is a developing country, and farmers are very sensitive to price, so we require good scientific instruments with affordable price. Once the instrument is acceptable on technical and financial parameters and creates excitement in the farmers, then it would be definitely scalable and can be implemented in large area, as 60% of Indians are engaged in agriculture sector only.

4 CSC SPV has proposed / running following services in agriculture domain. 1. Soil Testing Soil Testing is well recognized as a sound scientific tool to assess inherent power of soil to supply plant nutrients. The benefits of soil testing have been established through scientific research, extensive field demonstrations, and on the basis of actual fertilizer use by the farmers on soil test based fertilizer use recommendations. Soil testing was initiated in the country in the beginning of planning era by setting up of 16 soil testing laboratories during Aim is to increase the soil analyzing capacity in the country. The numerical strength does not, however, decisively indicate the quality and success of the programme. Planners and agriculturalists have recognized the utility of the service fully but it suffers due to inadequate scientific support in its execution. It may be pointed out that the methods to extract available nutrients from the soil are rather old in terms of their enunciation, being mostly given out in the years as early as 1940s and 50s but are still popular and being followed world over. What has fundamentally changed is to categorized the available nutrients extracted by these methods into the limits of sufficiency, deficiency or somewhere in between in relation to present day crop varieties and soil nutrient status. This is achieved through extensive research trials by ICAR and SAUs system to establish a correlation between soil test values so obtained and crop response to applied fertilizers. Thus, the critical input in improving the soil test based fertilizer use recommendation would be ratings given to these values. Another aspect of latest scientific input in the soil testing programme would be to analyze these extracted amounts of nutrients by modern, heavy duty and fast analyzing equipment so that the capacity and accuracy of the soil testing laboratories could be enhanced. Conception of Soil Testing In most of the soil testing laboratories in India, the soil ph, electrical conductivity, oxidizable organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorous and available potassium are determined by chemical analytical methods within a short period. Hence, Soil testing is the rapid

5 chemical analysis of a soil to estimate the available nutrient status, reaction and salinity of the soil. Objectives of Soil Testing The objectives of soil testing area as follows: 1. To estimate the available nutrient status, reaction (acidic/alkaline) of a soil. 2. To evaluate the fertility status of soils of a country or a state or a district. By soil test summaries the fertility status i.e., available nitrogen status or available phosphorous status or available potassium status expressed as HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW. A soil fertility map showing such fertility status can be prepared. The soil fertility map can be used for - Delineating areas of nutrient (e.g.,n, P, K) sufficiency or areas of nutrient (e.g.,n, P, K) deficiency, Studying soil fertility changing pattern due to crop cultivation over a period of years, Determining nutrient (e.g.,n, P, K) requirement for the deficient areas etc. 3. To prepare a basis for fertilizer recommendation, lime recommendation or gypsum recommendation. Soil Testing Programme - A soil testing programme has four phases as follows: Collection of soil samples. Analysis of soil samples. Calibration and interpretation of the results of soil analysis. Recommendation. Before giving the soil samples to a soil testing laboratory for chemical analysis, collection and preparation of soil sample should be done with perfection.

6 Fertilizer Recommendation Rating of Soil Test Results- On the basis of soil test results, the soils are grouped into different categories. The categories with respect to organic carbon, available PO, KO and N are a follows: Categories Organic Carbon(%) Available N (kg ha -) Available PO (kg ha - ) Available O (kg ha - ) High Above 1.5 Above 450 Above 90 Above 340 Medium Low Up to 0.75 Below 280 Below 45 Below 150 For Soil Testing, CSC SPV is developing a software jointly with NIC and will implement it in CSCs to give fertilizer recommendation based on the soil testing values (NPK, Organic Carbon and ph) obtained from soil testing kits deployed at CSCs. We are procuring soil testing kits from Agriculture University, Raipur.

7 2. Weather Stations A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Instruments Typical weather stations have the following instruments: Thermometer for measuring air and surface temperature Barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure Hygrometer for measuring humidity Anemometer for measuring wind speed Wind vane for measuring wind direction Rain gauge Automatic Weather Station The automatic weather station (AWS) is a Meteorological station which takes the meteorological data at regular preset intervals & transmits it automatically. The automatic rain

8 gauges station (ARGs) is a Meteorological station which takes the rainfall data at regular pre-set intervals & transmits it automatically Automatic weather stations have got some added advantage over the conventional meteorological observatories. Some of them are: a) Data quality is not dependent upon the observer. b) The stations can be established in the remote locations. c) The data is taken & transmitted at the same time throughout the network. d) The frequency of the data can be increased as per the need of the user. e) The homogeneity of networks can be ensured by standardizing the measuring techniques. f) The data is available outside the normal working hours. g) The quality data is available almost on real time basis which can be used for weather forecasting purpose. h) The health of stations can be monitored at a centralized location. The main parameter for an AWS is: Air temperature Relative Humidity Atmospheric pressure Rainfall Wind speed Wind Direction Dew Point Description The Weather station is a high performance wireless data logging weather station with advanced sensor technology resulting in good accuracy at a low cost. It provides instantaneous and historical data on Inside and Outside Temperature and Humidity, Wind Speed (average and

9 gust), Wind Direction, Barometric Pressure and Rainfall. The backlit touch screen controller logs 4080 data points with adjustable (5 minute minimum) sample interval. There is a memory meter on the display that shows when the memory is getting full so the data can be downloaded and archived to a computer thru the built in USB port and included Weather software. The unit has a radio controlled clock (WWVB) for improved accuracy. The controller runs on 3 AA batteries and can be mounted up to 300 feet away from the sensor array. The sensor array runs up to 2 years on 2 AA batteries so there are no worries with mounting the array on top of a building or tower. It comes with an advanced sensor array (anemometer, direction meter, temp/humidity sensor, rain gauge, mounting pole), wireless touch screen controller/display, USB cable for connection to a PC, Weather software and pipe clamps for mounting the sensor array to a mast. CSCs Proposed Model CSC proposes to IMD and AIC for the installation of AWS at CSCs on selected or all the locations. For that, a AWS calibration work is going on. After calibration, the AWS will be installed at CSC centres and the data will be used for agro advisory and crop insurance purposes. CSC SPV has also proposed AIC for enrolling farmers for crop insurance and do the facilitator services for crop insurance.

10 3. Agro Advisory Solution Media Lab Asia has developed an agro advisory solution for ICAR under World Bank Project. This solution can run on Web / Mobile App / IVRS. It gives multimedia / multimodal advisory to the registered farmers 24X7. Basic Architecture of IIDS Model Interactive Information Dissemination and Aggregation System (IIDAS) have two major components: 1. Personalised Agro Advisory System Mobile and web interface for interaction between farmer and experts through multimedia IVRS solutions including text, voice, picture and video. Farmers can seek advices during pre cultivation, cultivation and post cultivation period. 2. Information Services Mobile interface to receive location specific information e.g Input dealers; Local Weather Information; Market Price; Finance / Insurance providers; Government Schemes; Latest News etc. The Interactive Information Dissemination and Aggregation System (IIDS) aims to provide right information at right time to right people (farmers) by combining push / pull technology of dissemination information using various ICT gadgets on source and users end. IIDAS is a three tier structure with its vertical and horizontal integration. Tier Main Component Sub Component Role and Uses Tier 1 SAU Server, Database, TNT, Quality Control, Virtual Experts, Service Providers, IVRS 1 Way Communication. Acts as a backend and source of content. Every SAU in a state will in house one server and database Tier 2 KVK QPL, Level 1 Experts 2 Way Communications. Acts as a frontend service provider of agro advisory system Tier 3 Field (CSC) Field Coordinators (CSC Operator), Farmers 2 Way Communications. Acts as a human and ICT intervention for the farmers. Can demonstrate, give training on ICT usage.