- DG made the observation in the inaugural session of the national seminar on “Smart Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment”.
- Precision farming: It is a farm management approach utilizing information technology to optimize crop and soil conditions for maximum productivity.
- It aims to manage and distribute inputs on a site-specific basis.
- Impact of precision farming
- Improves yields on farms and thus the profitability of agriculture.
- Enables making strategic decisions on crop management aspects.
- Reduce the application of crop inputs such as fertilizer, herbicide, fuel, and water.
- Environmental benefits like reducing fertilizer runoff in waterways.
- Challenges: High cost and complexity of the technologies involved, absence of uniform standards, concerns regarding farm data sharing and ownership, etc.
- Government initiatives for technology in farming
- The Digital Agriculture Mission 2021–2025: to encourage and speed up projects based on cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence.
- National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGPA): to infuse modern information technologies in the farm sector.
- Agri Stack is the digital foundation being set up by the government.