Approach:

Introduction: Briefly describe the scenario of Indian agriculture connecting it with the need of e technology

Body: Potential of e-technology to improve livelihoods, describe potential to ensure food security, briefly mention recent efforts towards digital crop survey and then the significance of the  survey

Conclusion: Briefly mention a few challenges and suggest a way forward to ensure inclusive development and food security in India.

Answer:

The agricultural sector in India constitutes around half of the workforce and still contributes to around 16-18% of our gross domestic product with more than 80% of farmers being small and marginal ones. This points to the need for transformation in agriculture which can be brought about with the help of e-technology.

E technology is an overarching term incorporating all modes of transmission like electronic devices, satellite communication, mobile, services helping in information dissemination, etc. with help of technology.

E-Technology has the potential to improve the livelihoods of farmers:

• Improved decision-making at farmer levels by dissemination of relevant and timely information regarding agri- inputs, suitable farming techniques, etc. This can be done through platforms such as Kisan SMS Portal, Kisan Sabha App, etc.
  1. Increased access and Use of digital tools such as mobile apps can help farmers access timely information.
• Improved productivity for example by use of drones in agriculture farms.
• By providing better linkages to the market for the direct selling of crop produce without intermediaries to boost incomes. An example is e National Agriculture Market( eNAM) a pan-India electronic trading portal to provide better price discovery to farmers.
• Financial inclusion through the provision of credit, custom hiring, and insurance services through technology helps farmers manage risks and invest better. For example, FARMS ( Farm machinery solutions ) app provides a better reach of agriculture machinery and equipment on a rental basis.
• Use of technology like real-time surveillance for better supply chain logistics to enable end-to-end tracing of farm produce. This helps in consumer trust to ensure increased incomes and the development of a reliable market for farmers.

E Technology to contribute to food security of the nations:

• Improved crop yields due to the use of real-time data such as weather-based information for example by the use of the Meghdoot app.
• Provide precise and accurate information to policymakers for decision-making to roll out region-specific policies for example providing accurate pricing signals to farmers judging the data of cropping patterns. The use of geographical information systems, and remote sensing through satellites is crucial here.
• Reduction of food wastage through the use of technology such as GPS( Global Positioning Systems) tracking, and Radio Frequency Identification DeviceTracking( RFID). This will ensure a reduction of post-harvest losses which is presently more than 90000 crore rupee as per NITI Aayog.
  1. More food safety can be ensured by promoting best practices through technology on handling, storage, etc.
• By better market linkages such as the use of eNAM, consumers will also have a better reach of food at affordable prices with little role of intermediaries.

Realizing this potential the Centre plans to launch a digital crop survey from the Kharif-2023 season across 10 states. The survey will collect information on different types of crops sown by farmers in their fields through an automated process by using “Geo-Referenced maps” of the farmland plots and remote sensing images.

Significance of the survey:

• It will provide near real-time information about crops and enable accurate and transparent estimates of crops sown in states, crop identification for improved production, crop grown area, yield estimation from crop-sown data, and more.
• It will also help with the easy implementation of departmental schemes focused on crops, easy verification, estimation, and settlement of crop insurance claims.
• Better assessment of cropping patterns for assessing environmental impacts can be ensured.
• Improving the market from the village to national levels by better information on agriculture through this survey.

However, there are various challenges associated with the use of e-technology in agriculture including lack of awareness about benefits and uses of e-technology, the digital divide preventing vulnerable sections to utilize benefits such as women in the context of feminization of agriculture, etc.

Thus India should envision an inclusive use of e-technology through the effective implementation of the Digital India mission. This would help us ensure inclusive development along with ensuring food security in the nation.