Operationalizing Precision Farming in India

1
Operationalizing Precision Farming in India

• Authors
• Ashish Mishra, P. Chidambara Raj, and D. Balaji
• College of Engineering, Guindy
• Anna University.

2
Contents

• Objectives
• Precision Farming
• Components of Precision Farming
• Problems in Indian Agriculture
• Overview
• Feasibility Analysis
• Suggestions for Implementation
• Conclusion

3
Objectives

• Explain the feasibility of precision farming
  technology with emphasis on seed spacing tillage,
  etc.
• Set up a DGPS network all around the country and
  achieving few centimeters accuracy for the
  purpose of Site-Specific Management (SSM) in
  Precision Farming
• Analyse the cost and benefit in terms of Indian
  farmers income-expenditure
• Contents

4
Precision Farming

• Care for each plant
• The term Precision Farming means the application
  of technologies and principles to manage spatial
  and temporal variability associated with all
  aspects of agricultural production (Pierce and
  Nowak, 1999)

• Contents

5
Components of Precision Farming

• Remote Sensing
• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS)
• Variable Rate Applicator

• Contents

6
Problems in Indian Agriculture

• Small land holdings
• Heterogeneity of cropping systems and market
  imperfections
• Lack of technical expertise knowledge and
  technology (India spends only 0.3 of its
  agricultural GDP in Research and Development )
• Contents

7
Overview

• Seed spacing
• The yield is maximum when care is taken to
  adequately space them to enable each plant the
  optimum requisites for its growth, namely the
  soil nutrients, water, sunlight and protection
  against pest infestation.
• DGPS Network
• Enable the farmers to get an accuracy of few
  centimeters in the various unit processes
  involved in Precision Farming
• DGPS network would cater to the needs of
  multitude of applications of which Precision
  Farming is one.
• Contents

8
Feasibility Analysis

• Area of India 329 million hectares
• Area covered by one reference station of DGPS
  200 km radius
• Area of GPS (circular area, PI 3.14) PI
  (200) 2 sq km
• 125600 sq km
• 12.56 million hectares
• Total no. of GPS reference stations required for
  the country 329/12.56 26
• Cost of a single DGPS Rs. 40 lakhs
• Total cost of the entire infrastructure Rs. 10.4
  crores
• Contribution of Agriculture to GDP of India for
  2000 - 01 Rs. 430088 crores
• Amount spent for RD 0.3 of GDP Rs.
  1290.264 crores
• Percentage of amount required from RD (10.4 /
  1290.264 ) 100
• 0.81
• Contents

9
Suggestions for Implementation

• Creation of Multidisciplinary teams of scientists
• Formation of farmers co-operatives
• Government legislation restraining indiscriminate
  practices
• Creation of awareness among farmers, land owners,
  etc.
• Contents

10
Conclusion

• As the feasibility shows only 0.81 of RD would
  be used for the first stage of Precision Farming
  and so it will take Indian agriculture into
  space age.
• Contents