1. Agricultural Informatics &
Communication
Perspective and prospective
A Presentation

2. • Agriculture Sector is changing the
socio-economic environments of the
population due to liberalization and
globalization
• About 75% people are living in rural areas and
are still dependent on Agriculture. About 43%
of India’s geographical area is used for
agricultural activity
• Agriculture continues to play a major role in
Indian Economy
Indian Agriculture

3. Indian Agriculture
• Provides about 65% of the livelihood
• Accounts for 27% of GDP
• Contributes 21% of Total Exports, and Supplies Raw
materials to Industries
• Growth Rate in production - 5.7%
• Food grains production – 211.17 mt

4. India’s position in world Agriculture
Rank
• Total Area Seventh
• Irrigated Area First
• Population Second
• Economically Active population Second
• Total Cereals Third
• Wheat Second
• Rice Second
• Coarse grains Fourth
• Total Pulses First
• Oil Seeds Second
• Fruits and Vegetables Second
• Implements (Tractors) Third
• Milk First
• Live Stock (castles, Buffaloes) First

5. Agricultural Resources
 Total Geographical Area (TGA) - 329 M.H
 Potential for Biological Production - 265 M.H
 Net Sown Area (NSA) - 143 M.H
 Net Irrigated Area - 56 M.H
 Area threatened by land degradation - 50% of TGA
 Drought-prone Area - 190 M.H

6. Mile Stones in Agricultural Development
• Green Revolution (1968)
• Ever-Green Revolution (1996)
• Blue Revolution (water, fish)
• White Revolution (Milk)
• Yellow Revolution (flower, edible)
• Bio-Technology Revolution
• ICT Revolution

7. Development of Indian
Agriculture : Basic Issues
• Revitalization of Cooperative Institutions
• Improving Rural Credits
• Research, Education & Extension
• Human Resources Development
• Trade & Export Promotion
• Land Reforms
• Enabling Environment for higher Agricultural
Growth

8. The thrust areas:
• Diversification of Agriculture
• Inter-cropping
• Micro Management
• Water Management
• Organic Farming
• Agri-Clinics and Agri-business Centres
• Bio-Technology

9. Efforts on Policies, strategies and
Frameworks
• National Agriculture Policy (2000)
• National Seeds policy (2002)
• Cooperative Policy
• Agricultural Price policy
• Agricultural Extension Framework (2001)
• WTO/GATT agreement (1994)
In addition to, various working groups, taskforces, mid-
term appraisals and plan schemes (~68)
(for further details www.agricoop.nic.in)

10. Reports
• Agriculture Credit, Cooperation and Crop
• Horticulture Development including Spices Aromatic and Medicinal
Plants and Plantation Crops
Agriculture Infrastructure/Warehousing/Rural
Godowns/Marketing/Post Harvest Management, Processing and Cold
Storage, Trade and Export Promotion.
• Crop Husbandry, Demand and Supply Projections and Agricultural
Inputs Agriculture Research and Education
• Animal Husbandry & Dairying
• Agriculture Statistics
• Watershed Development, Rainfed Farming and Natural Resources
Management
• |Agriculture Development in Eastern and North-Eastern India
• Agriculture and Allied Sectors
• Organic and Biodynamic Farming
(for further details www.planningcommission.nic.in)

11. Technologies for Sustainable
Agricultural Development
• Biotechnology
• Pre & post harvesting technology
• Energy saving technology
• Environment protection technology
• Information and Communication technology
• GIS & RS technology
• Internet/Intranet Technology

12. Fusion of Technologies for Sustainable
Development - A Synergy of Multiple Disciplines
• Database Technology
• Internet/Intranet Technology
• GIS and Remote Sensing
• Image Processing
• GPS
• Artificial Intelligence
• Modeling

13. IT led Agricultural Development
The beginning: (e-readiness)
• A two day conference (ISDA-1995 ) was held to assess
IT Infrastructure and empowerment needs for IT led
development in Agriculture Sector (one of the major
recommendations was about 3% of the agriculture
budget should be spent on Informatics Development)
• IT Plan for Agriculture Sector (AGRISNET) was
submitted to Ministry of Agriculture in 1997 to
establish “Indian Agriculture on-line” and revised in
2000.

14. IT Applications for Agricultural Development
Requires Inter-Sectoral Approach
 Agricultural Research
 Agro-Meteorology
 Agricultural Marketing
 Agricultural Engineering &
Food Processing
 Agricultural Extension and
Transfer of Technology
 Credit and Cooperation
 Crop production &
protection
 Environment & Forest
 Fertilisers and Manure
 Fisheries
 Irrigation and Drainage
System
 Livestock, Dairy
Development & Animal
Husbandry
 Rural Development &
Planning
 Soil and Water Management
 Watershed Development
 Wasteland Development

15. Census
Mach.Marketing
Coop.
Credit
Crops Exten.
Fert
Hort
DM
PPQ
PP
RFS
IRS
TMOP
States / Uts / Districts
ICAR Institutes
Resource Information
Attached/subordinate offices
FARMER
Ministry of Agriculture

16. AGRISNET ARISNET
DACNET
DAC
Portals
AgRIS

17. IT plan for Agriculture
• To strengthen IT in Agriculture and creation of
Databases & Information Network for Agriculture
Sector :-
• The plan was divided into three schemes by DAC
• Central Sector Schemes proposed
• DAC Hqrs
• Networking of DAC Field Units (DACNET)
• State & District and Sub-District level
(AGRISNET)

18. Present Status of IT Scheme (s) of DAC:
Various Components emerging as one scheme:
• IT apparatus in DAC Hqrs.
• IT apparatus in the Field offices and Directorates of DAC
(DACNET) Phase II
• Development of Agricultural Informatics and
Communication
• Agricultural Resources Information
System
• IT apparatus for States/UTs (AGRISNET) and
• Agricultural Marketing Information Network
(AGMARKNET) Phase II

19. Information Systems Requirement
in Agriculture
GIS/RS based Systems:
• Soil and Land use
• Watershed developments
• Disaster management
• Cropping systems
• Agriculture Resources Information
• Organic farming (bio-fertilisers)
• Crop weather watch

20. Decision Support Systems
• Integrated Nutrient Management
• Integrated Pest Management
• Demand-Supply Projections
• Soil-Water balance
• Credit Management
• Inter-cropping systems
• Bio-fertilizer management
• Early Warning System

21. E-Commerce Applications
• Agri-Business
(Agri-clinics and Agri-Business Centres)
• Agricultural Marketing
• Agricultural Trade
• Cooperatives
• Horticulture
(horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, aquaculture etc,. )
• Organic farming
• Agriculture Statistics

22. Ongoing ICT Projects of DAC
• DACNET (dacnet.nic.in)
• AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in)
• PPIN (cib/rc) (cibrc.nic.in)
• VISTARNET
• AGRICULTURAL CENSUS
• NADAMS (National Agricultural Drought Advisory and
Management Systems)
• HORTNET

23. Projects Under Pipeline:
• AGRISNET
• AgRIS (Resources Information System)
• Development of Agricultural Informatics
• DACNET (phase – II)
• AGMARKNET (Phase – II)
• Agricultural Census 2000-2001

24. Other ICT projects of Agriculture
• APHNET (Animal Production and Health
Informatics Network)
• ARISNET (Agricultural Research and
Information System)
• Water Resources Informatics System
• APEDA
• NPRE etc.,

25. Towards e-Government in DAC
• A High Speed LAN established with more than 500 nodes
(round the clock services)
• INTRANET/INTERNET applications are being implemented as
part of e-Government
• Regular use of VC for scheme monitoring and plans
(X Five Year Plan proposals were discussed on VC
with all States)
• 7/24 Services provided during Orissa Super cyclone, Gujarat
Earth Quake, drought mitigation
• Implementations of Minimum Agenda of e-governance

26. Towards e-Government in DAC (Contd.)
• In-house Training Centre established
• More than 800 officials trained in DAC
• NICNET based Public Information and facilitation
Centre established
• Information Kiosk
• Various paid projects implemented like Integrated
Crops MIS, LAN etc.
• ISDA Conference conducted for IT assessment in
Agriculture sector
• IT Plan submitted for IXth and Xth Five plans

28. Portals developed
• AGMARKNET
• DACNET
• CIB/RC (PPIN)
• VISTARNET*
• Agricultural Census*
* Under development

29. DACNET
A Scheme for bringing E-Governance in the Directorates and Field Units
of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC)
• Establish Functional Hardware/software tools
• Provide training
• Develop Application Software
• Assist in further system enhancement, if required
• Establish LAN / Network / Internet Service
With a Mandate to

30. Information Flow from Field Units
(DACNET)
Central Databases
Census
Mach.Marketing
Coop.
Credit
Crops Exten.
Fert
Hort
NDM
Plan-Co
PPQ
PP
RFS
SWC
TMOP
IC&Trade
Field
Offices
Directorates
databases
Planners /
Decision makers

32. AGRISNET envisages
• AGRISNET – A NICNET Based Agricultural
Informatics & Communication to facilitate
Higher Sustainable Agricultural productivity
and Establish “Indian Agriculture on-line” in
the Country
• Convergence of Core Technologies and e-
Governance

33. AGRISNET envisages
• IT Infrastructure
(H/W, S/W tools and Networking)
• Information Networks
(Web sites, portals, Vertical portals)
• Data Warehousing
(Database, Data Mining and Mata Data)
• Web enabled applications
• GIS/RS based applications
• IT Empowerment (HRD)

34. AGRISNET components
• Internet/Intranet services
• E-Commerce & EDI Services
• National & International Video Conferencing
• Networking (LAN, MAN, WAN) using
terrestrial, Satellite, & Wireless
Communication

35. AGRISNET components
• IT Training
• Data Base, Knowledge Base, and Analytical
Model Base development for Decision
Support
• Disaster management

36. Sub-networks under AGRISNET
The following sub-networks will strengthen these portals:
• FERTNET: Fertilizer Network
• HORTNET: Horticulture Network
• PPIN: Plant Protection Network
• VISTERNET: Agricultural Extension Network
• CROPSNET : Crops Information Network
• SEEDNET: Seeds Informatics Network
• ACINET: Agricultural Credit Informatics Network
• AGMARKNRT:Agricultural Marketing Network
• ARISNET: Agricultural Research Information System Network

37. • To strengthen these sub-networks, AGRISNET
nodes will be established at National, State,
District, and Block level with Internet/Intranet
gateway at National and regional level.
• Agri-Clinic and Agri-business centres will be set
up outside the Government set up to facilitate
Un-employed agricultural graduates to generate
income and employment through “Knowledge
services” for farmers. The emerging technologies
on “last mile” problems provide required
technology solutions to establish Agri-clinic and
Agri-business centres at sub district level

38. Hort. Division
INTRADAC
Attached , Subordinate, Autonomous, Field Offices
State, District & Block Agricultural Offices
Mail Server
Internet Server
Database Server
Data Ware housing
GIS Server
Workgroups
“Agriculture On-line”
DACNET
AGRISNET
NRM Division
Crops Division
Admn. Division
Finance Div.

39. Agricultural Resource Information
(core group – V on Agriculture and Soils (NNRMS-AC-
AS)).
• Arid Agro-Ecosystem, Coastal Agro-
Ecosystem, Hill & Mountain Agro-Ecosystem,
Irrigated Agro-Ecosystem, and Rainfed Agro-
Ecosystem. The pilot project demonstration,
one district each with various typologies (13)
using GIS/RS based Technology

41. In e-Governance, “electronic” means support and
stimulate good governance. E-Governance will mature
according to the following four phases (Garter Report)
• Information  Presence : Websites
• Interaction  Intake Process: e-mail, search engines,
download forms and documents
• Transaction  Complete Transactions: Network and
Information Security
• Transformation Integration and Change: Virtual counter

42. Accessibility
Width of reach
Affordability
by common man/
target customers
Accessibility
Width of reach
Affordability
by common man/
target customers
Communicability
in People’s Language
Communicability
in People’s Language
Availability
of Information across
multiple delivery
channels
Availability
of Information across
multiple delivery
channels
Reliability
of transactions across
multiple delivery
channels
Reliability
of transactions across
multiple delivery
channels
Viability
Economic and political
returns
Viability
Economic and political
returns
Re-engineering
of Processes within
Government
Re-engineering
of Processes within
Government
Collaboration among
the servicing
departments
Collaboration among
the servicing
departments
Trustworthy
Adequate security and
auditability
e-Governance Imperatives
Service related
Service related
Implementation
Related
Creating stakeholders buy-in through internal/external communications
Accessibility
Width of reach
Affordability
by common man/
target customers
Communicability
in People’s Language
Availability
of Information across
multiple delivery
channels
Reliability
of transactions across
multiple delivery
channels
Viability
Economic and political
returns
Re-engineering
of Processes within
Government
Collaboration among
the servicing
departments
Trustworthy
Adequate security and
auditability

43. Diversification for Sustainable
Agriculture
• Efficient use of resources (Example, crops in command area for
rational sharing of water and also types of crops as per
availability of water)
• Crop diversification in dark and grey areas where groundwater
exploitation is high (less water requiring crop)
• For sustainable land use and in areas of depleting soil fertility
(Example, Rice-wheat cropping)
• For efficient natural resource management

44. Population and Food grains Needs
- The population as per latest census (2001-02), the
estimated population is 1033.5 million
- Requirement of food grains for Human consumption is 174
m t (NIN, Hyderabad) and production requirement is 195 mt
Therefore, our production is expected to be higher than the
requirement calculated on normative method

45. • We have 26 per cent population below poverty who have poor
economic access to food grains. Their low purchasing power
may not permit them to purchase 182.5 kg per capita per
annum. If they can purchase only 70 per cent of their
requirements, this would imply availability of additional 15 mt
in the market
- Food Corporation has stocks of over 60 m t
against the norm of about 24 m t
- Average pulse production during IXth Plan is 13 mt,
the requirement of pulses is about 15 mt
- Rate of growth of consumption of Rice and
Wheat is expected to decline.
Therefore, the answer to first question is in affirmative.
Then we need to diversify our agriculture