Indian Agriculture The Next Wave: IT as the
Game Changer
Agriculture and allied sectors in India: Key Facts
Producer of milk, cashew, coconut, tea, ginger, turmeric, banana, black
pepper in the world; largest cattle population in the world ~281 million
1st
2nd
3rd
Top 5
13%
~58%
Worlds second largest producer of fruits, vegetables, wheat, rice,
sugar, groundnut, cotton; second in worldwide farm output
Worlds third largest producer of tobacco
Largest producers of agricultural produce (coffee, cotton, etc),
livestock & poultry meat
Of world fruit production
Of Indias population depends on agriculture as primary source of livelihood
Source: Economic Survey 2012-13, IBEF, Ministry of Agriculture
Stakeholder value chain spans across producers to
processors and the retail consumer
FARMING COMMUNITY
RESEARCHERS
Calendar
Land
selection definition
Credit
Crop
access
selection
INDUSTRY
Retail
Consumer
Food
processing
PreCultivation
Land
preparation &
sowing
Packaging
AGRICULTURE
VALUE CHAIN
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VALUE CHAIN
Input
management
Packaging
Processing
Water
management,
fertilisation
Transportation
Transportation
Production
Marketing
GOVERNMENT/POLICY MAKERS
Source: Secondary sources
Breeding
Pest
management
ACADEMIA
INSTITUTIONS, AGENCIES
CONSUMERS
IT SERVICE PROVIDERS
Distribution
Higher input costs and falling productivity emerging
as key challenges
Seed, planting material
production
Soil & nutrient mgmt
Pest & disease mgmt
Post harvest
(perishability, inadequate
storage, cold chains)
Farm mechanisation
Available nutrients
Crops/cropping system
Recommended doze of
fertilisers
Fertiliser, manure
availability
Soil
Crops
CHALLENGES
Livestock
Horticulture
Genetic resources
Production, identification
Diseases
Health & fodder
Livestock insurance
COSTS
Non-availability of hybrids
Lack of technical inputs
Dearth of quality
Plant genetic resources
Post-harvest losses
High prices
Low profitability
Quality
Access, unemployment
MARKETS
Under-developed
Poor market intelligence
MACRO ECONOMIC
Demographics
TALENT
Ecosystem
Variability
AGRI-BUSINESS
Source: ITRA Strategy Formulation Meeting, Mar 2013
Low yields
Skills
Infrastructure
Inefficiency
Infrastructure
Rural connectivity: Rapid improvements providing
a suitable platform for service delivery
Telecom subscribers:
338.54 million
Teledensity:
39.85
NOFN:
Connect all 2,50,000
Gram panchayats
in India
Rural telecom subscribers account
for nearly 38 per cent of total
subscribers
~98 per cent of rural users are
mobile subscribers
Mobile subscribers:
331.6 million
Mobile internet users:
~5 million1
Computer literates:
70 million
Internet users1:
45 million (est.)
Active internet users:
~37 million1
Rural Broadband
Aksh Broadband
N-Louge
Communications
Gramjyoti
AKshaya
Krishi Vigyan
Kendras
631 nos
Government and telecom players
aiming to increase rural broadband
penetration
~8 per cent of the rural population
is estimated to be computer literate
Governments National Optic Fibre
Network (NOFN) program expected
to significantly improve connectivity
and ICT access
Source: 1 IAMAI, ICAR, TRAI (Dec-2012), http://www.bbnl.nic.in/content/page/national-optical-fibre-networknofn.php
IT has the potential to emerge as the key influencer
across the value chain...
AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED SECTORS
Areas for IT Intervention
Soil, water, weather
:
Improved soil
management
Soil mapping
Weather forecasting
Abiotic stresses
Environment,
natural resources
Disasters
Remote sensing
Sensing &
Communication Tech
Crop production:
Seed production
systems, planting
material
Crop production
systems
Farm mechanisation
Farm management
Precision farming
Pest/disease
management
Biotic stress
management
Post-harvest
management
Food processing
systems
Data
Management
Source: ITRA Strategy Formulation Meeting, Mar 2013
Livestock,
Agri education,
fisheries:
extension:
Herd/flock mgmt
Education/training
Management of
processes
semen stations &
Produce
semen availability
professionals with
Milk collection,
practical, research
storage, processing skills
Production ,
Extend crop
availability of fish
technologies
seed
Reducing lab to
Marine fishing and
land gap
logistics
Better capacity
Fish processing & building/training of
production
stakeholders
Marketing of
Real-time advisory
products
Modelling &
Simulation
Data Mining &
Knowledge Extraction
Marketing, Agribusiness:
Efficient procurement
Storage and supply
of produce and
processed goods to
consumers
Sale of produce by
farmers
Better market
intelligence
Decision Support
Systems
Mobile rapidly emerging as the most ideal service
delivery platform
DIGITAL MANDI: A mobile application developed by IIT Kanpur and BSNL, aims to
provide current rates of crops to farmers so they can choose appropriate time and
market to sell their crops for maximum profit
Product: Livelihood 360, ConceptWaves Software Solutions
Technology: Mobile based ERP application - a comprehensive produce management solution
Objective: Revolutionise crop estimation, collection & processing for better returns and improved quality
Solution: Uses cloud & mobile computing to capture & send real-time data for analysis & planning;
supports end-to-end data management for harvest estimates, actual number of harvest crop, financial
transactions
Captures details about farmers, land, crop, literacy, health, nutrition - holistic view of village eco-system
Adopted by >12,000 farmers in 658 villages in Araku Valley region, engaged in coffee and pepper farms
Decreased yield estimation period from 70 days to 45 days
mKrishi: TCS mobile agro-advisory system - uses mobile phones and sensor technology to let
farmers send queries, receive information on microclimate, local mandi prices, seek experts advice
and other information relevant to them in their local language; supports text, voice, pictures
mKisan: Using mobile technologies to strengthen farmer-extension-expert-linkages in India
Objective: Mobile-based agro advisory for smallholders; reach livestock producers with actionable
information
Solution: Mobile channels like voice/text messages, on-demand videos, farmer helpline, to be used. Offer
advice on relevant crop and livestock issues and provide platform for exchange of knowledge:
Provide daily bulletins (meteorology forecasts, pest attacks, livestock disease outbreaks)
Strengthen market linkages by providing up to date information on prevailing market prices
Improve access to advisory services by providing information on local service provision sources
Source: NASSCOM Foundation, www.themobileindian.com, TCS
...With application areas spanning genetic resource
management to supply chain management
Online disease
diagnosis
Online monitoring of
pesticide sales/usage
Post-harvest loss,
wastage management
Disease & pesticide Databases,
Data mgmt &
monitoring,
reporting
Post harvest mgmt
SCM, logistics mgmt.
Database of machines,
manufacturers, service
providers
Automation/AI
Weather forecasting
Soil analysis
Farm profitability
Water availability
Animal identification,
selective breeding and
increasing productivity
Genetic resources
Disease surveillance
Information sys,
Decision
Support sys
Logistics mgmt,
Equipment
mgmt
Market info systems
Data mining
Facility management
Application
areas
Modeling/analysis,
Weather
forecasting
Collaboration
s/w
Wireless,
Surveillance sys
Heat detection
Health monitoring
Feeding system
Wireless sensor
networks
eConferencing
Video conferencing
eLearning
Crowd sourcing
systems
Mobile tech,
Geographic tech
GIS, GPS, RFID
SMS alerts
Mobile advisory
services
SOIL
CROPS
Source: ITRA Strategy Formulation Meeting, Mar 2013
HORTICULTURE
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