Technology is a dominating force in every aspect of human life. Indian agriculture is no exception to this phenomenon, writes S MADHUSUDAN
The Indian agricultural sector has definitely grown by leaps and bounds in the past years. However, the revolution ushered in during the late 20th and early 21st century has been noteworthy, despite being sporadic to a few selected crops or regions. Ensued by such hitches, the sector's growth with sustenance has been moderate. Marking the beginning of agricultural reformations in 1991, the overall growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) was around three per cent per annum, with some thick and thin experiences in the sector.
Post such reforms, the Indian agricultural sector has successfully grown out of a period of shortages and emerged as a regional and global player (especially in grains and rice) for quite some time now. This shift has certainly challenged the status-quo and disproved some historic trends in Indian agriculture. The revolutionary period, led by the Green Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, aided India in overcoming productivity stagnation and improve food grain production.
Following this was the White Revolution (popularly known as ‘Operation Flood' in 1970s and 1980s), which revolutionised milk production and marketing in India. The next in line was the oilseed sector, with the humbly known ‘Yellow Revolution’, yet another effort in this category to aid self-sufficiency in production. However, this breakthrough could not achieve its zenith, as reduction in high tariffs on edible oils resulted in increasing imports, and in 2007-08, India was importing almost half of its edible oil consumption.
Nonetheless, there is yet another sector that flourished during this era and that was BT technology in the cotton sector. Consequently, the segment experienced unprecedented growth in production, which led to massive growth in exports in the year 2007-2008, when India traded beyond eight million bales, which is still touted to be the highest in the history.
As per recent figures of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, India is touted to be the largest producer, globally, of many fresh fruits and vegetables, milks, major spices, select fibrous crops such as jute, staples such as millets and castor oil seed. Furthermore, feeding a major chunk of the world's population with their staple diet, wheat and rice, India is the second largest producer of these two crops across the globe.
Technology is now known to be a dominating force in every aspect of human life; Indian agriculture is no exception to this phenomenon. Making an allowance for India's current agricultural status, it is apparent that the agriculturists have slowly been able to exploit both the domestic and international markets. However, if intensive marketing and modern technology are integrated into mass production, the sector would be able to exploit the markets to its fullest potential. In today's era, an era largely driven by technology, it is important to understand that the volume of production not only depends on capital investments and marketing strategies, but also the technical capacity of agriculturists. As a matter of fact, technology plays a significant role in marketing as well. Technology is absolutely critical to the agro industry be it at the primary (production), secondary (processing) or tertiary (marketing and packaging) stage. The focus will now be on investments to improve and scale up vertical and horizontal integrations to more effectively manage the entire supply chain.
Identifying opportunities in the gaps of the Indian agricultural industry, the Indian startups have now come to the rescue of the sector, using technology in the Indian farming landscape. There are many startups offering comprehensive agricultural technology like eco-friendly crop protection methods based on research of products that support organic farming to increase crop produce and its quality with minimal expenditure. likewise there are farming technology companies who focus on enhancing soil fertility to achieve higher agricultural productivity and crop yield with lower resource use. Similarly there are some who focus on improving mechanisation at horticulture farms with the use of R&D and high quality farm equipment. Another tech company with focus on weather, yet another important aspect of farming, offers services like weather monitoring and agri-risk solutions.
Delving deeper in to the topic of technology in farming, this sector also seems to be smitten by the raging e-commerce frenzy. E-commerce of fresh food, although at a very nascent stage, is slowly gaining popularity amongst India's 34.8 per cent Internet users.
(The writer is chief farmer and founder, back2basics)