Digital Agriculture can be defined as ICT and data ecosystems to support the development and delivery of timely, targeted (localized) information and services to make farming profitable and sustainable (socially, economically and environmentally) while delivering safe, nutritious and affordable food for ALL. Rural connectivity will be a key to providing low cost data and access to information. Digital technology will be key to increasing agriculture productivity by delivering tailored recommendations to farmers based on crop, planting date, variety sown; real time localized observed weather and projected market prices. Mobile phones also enable farmers to integrate into structured markets based on approved grades and standards. The greatest impact of Digital agriculture will have is on democratization of market pricing and compressing transaction costs. Digital agriculture will also leverage social media platforms to build human capacity. One of the best examples originating from India is Digital Green.
Digitalization in agriculture for enhancing sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods
1. Digitalization in Agriculture for Enhancing
Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Livelihoods
Dr.C.Thatchinamoorthy
Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Extension
Don Bosco College of Agriculture
Sagayathottam, Tamil Nadu
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
2. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Digital transformation has been a
strong theme in both business and
IT over the past five years and
often is a term mistakenly used for
almost any kind of new
technology adoption.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
3. Is the economic and societal effects of
digitization and digitalization.
Is the conversion of analogue data and processes
into a machine readable format.
Is the use of digital technologies and data as well
as interconnection that results in new or changes
to existing activities.
Are ICT, including the internet, mobile, devices
and data analytics used to improve the generation,
collection, exchange, aggregation, analysis,
access search ability and presentation of digital
content.
Digital
Transformatio
n
Digitization
Digitalization
Digital
Technologies
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
4. Agriculture
Indian Agriculture contributes 22% of
our GDP, and approximately 60% Indians
derive their livelihood from the
agricultural sector.
In India, these are about 120 million farm
holdings and the number is growing year
by year.
Planning commission of India states that
the agriculture growth is stagnating and
sluggish.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
5. Need of ICT in Indian Agriculture
ICT in agriculture is an emerging field
focusing on the enhancement of
agricultural and rural development in
India.
The advancements in ICT can facilitate an
environment for more remunerative
agriculture.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
6. Market information
Information on latest techniques and
technologies
Information about rural development
programs and subsidies
Weather forecasting
Latest (best) packages of practices
Post-harvest technology
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
7. Cont…..
General agricultural news
Information on insurance / claim
processing
Input prices and availability
Early warning and management of
diseases and pests
Soil testing and soil sampling information
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
8. Role of ICT
Enhancing Agricultural
Production
Improving Market Access
Capacity-building and
empowerment
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
9. ICT Initiatives and Applications
1) aAQUA
2) KISSAN Kerala
3) TNAU AGRITECH Portal
4) AGRISNET
5) DACNET
6) e-Krishi
7) ASHA
8) India Development Gateway (InDG) portal
9) Rice Knowledge Management Portal (RKMP)
10) Agropedia
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
10. Market Information and Agri-Business
Firms’ Portal to Farmer
AGMARKNET
ITC-e-Chopal
EID Parry-Indiagriling
Indiancommodities.com
Mahindra Kisan Mintra
IFFCO Agri-Portal
Agrowatch Portal
iKissan
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
11. Private and Co-operative
Organizations
• Village Knowledge Center -
M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation
• Village Resource Center - Indian Space
Research Organization
• Community Information Center
• Common Service Center
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
12. Telephony/ Mobile Telephony
1) Farmers Call Center (Kissan Call Center)
2) Lifelines India
3) IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL)
4) Fisher Friend
5) Reuters Market Light(RML)
6) Mobile Advisory Services by Krishi Vigyan
Kendras (KVKs) of Indian Council of
Research(ICAR)
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
14. Invigorating Extension through
ICT Tools
…
1. TNAU Agri Tech Portal
2. Crop Doctor
3. Multi Video Conference
4. Cross platform of Android, Mac iOS
5. Training the Extension Officials Phase-I (1482)
6. On-line and off-line Access
7. Instant interaction with Research Institutes and
KVK
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
15. Mobile communication technology
Mobile applications– Agricultural
Rural Development by providing
access to information, market and
services to rural inhabitants (world
bank, 2012).
Mobile Technology
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
16. Role of mobile phones
Access to modern technology for farming.
Fulfill the informational needs of farmers.
Improve the information transfer between
farmers and research institutions.
Significantly reduce the communication
and information cost
Provide new opportunities for rural farmers
to obtain knowledge and information.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
17. Cont…..
Provided information on markets,
weather, transport and agricultural
techniques.
Provide new approach to farmers to make
tentative decisions.
Leads to greater social cohesion and
improved social relationships.
Provided connectivity and offer benefits
such as mobility and security to owners.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
18. Mobile apps
Software programmes designed to run on Smartphone, tablets
and other devices
Basic tasks like e-mail, web browsing, calendar contacts,
weather forecast etc.,
Mobile agricultural apps – characterize to target the needs
of the agricultural sector and its stake holders.
Wide spectrum of activities from field to market
Services such as weather forecasting, agricultural business
news, information for agricultural machinery and equipment
daily farming yield forecasting and monitoring.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
19. Kisan suvidha
Developed by: Ministry
of Agriculture and
Farmers.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
20. Kisan suvidha is an omnibus mobile app
developed to help farmers by providing relevant
information.
Weather, Market Price, Dealers, Plant Protection,
Agro Advisory, Call To KCC
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
22. Soil health card
Soil Health Card scheme is a Government of India
scheme promoted by the Department of Agriculture,
Co-operation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and being
implemented in the state and union territories.
A SHC gives soil nutrients status to each farmer for
his/her land holding and also gives advices on
fertilizer dosage and soil amendments needed to
maintain soil health in the long run.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
24. CCE agri mobile app
In rural areas, there will be no or poor internet
connection that is why this app has been designed
in such a way that data can be collected without
internet connection.
It works in both online and offline mode.
Internet is required only to download the app and
doing registration.
Affter that CCE data can be entered using this app
without internet connection.
And as and when internet is available, data can be
pushed to the server.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
25. BENEFITS OF CCE AGRI APP
Significantly improve data speed (from
harvesting to insurance loss estimation) and
biggest gain is data quality:
Geo-tagging ensures field visit
Photos mitigate manipulation risk, and
Data transfer greatly improves data
consolidation/analysis
Reduced time in data collation
Reduced time in claim settlement
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
26. Crop insurance
Developed by: Department
of Agriculture and Farmers
Welfare (DAC & FW).
It provides details of crop
insurance.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
27. Features:
Crop insurance mobile app
can be used to calculate the
insurance premium for
notified crops based on area,
coverage amount and loan
amount in case of loanee
farmer.
It can also used to get details
of normal sum insured,
extended sum insured, of any
of notified crop in notified
area.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
28. eNAM:
Developed by: Small Farmer Agribusiness
Consortium(SFAC), Ministry of Agriculture
and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India.
Purpose of mobile app is to facilitate remote
bidding by traders and access to arrivals and
price related information to farmers and other
holders on their smart phones.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
34. AgriMarket
Developed by: Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
AgriMarket app is used to get
market price of crops in the
markets within 50kms of the
device’s location
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
35. DIGITAL MANDI INDIA
Helps in checking the latest Mandi prices of
agricultural commodities reported from
different states and districts/ mandis in india.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
36. Features
One can browse through various commodity categories
and get the selected commodity’s price reported by
various states/ by mandi.
Simplified flow to reach the selected commodity’s
mandi price.
Copy the mandi price of a commodity and share the
price on social media.
Sync data the Indian government portal
Agmarknet.nic.in
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
37. PUSA KRISHI
Pusa krishi mobile app launched
in MARCH 21,2016.
Information about new varieties
released by ICAR.
“LAB TO LAND”
ICAR
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
40. OILSEEDS
ICAR IIOR CASTOR
Jan 10, 2018.
General information
Agronomic practices
Hybrids
Varieties
Cropping systems
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
41. ICAR- IIOR safflower:
Jun 7, 2017
Commodity markets
Major pest and diseases
Varieties and hybrids
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
43. Solapur anar
To educate pomegranate growers
about scientific pomegranate
production.
Include publications
Announcement from National
Research Centre on Pomegranate-
trainings, seminar
English, Hindi, Marathi
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
44. Cane advisor
ICAR- sugarcane breeding
institute, coimbatore, TN.
Details from planting to
harvest with text and relevant
graphics.
Scheduler
Query handler
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
45. mkrishi fisheries app
Developed by Tata Consultancy Services
Innovation lab-Mumbai, in collaboration with
ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute
& Indian National Centre for Ocean Information
Service(INCOIS) Hyderabad.
INCOIS generate Potential Fishing Zone(PFZ), a
fish shoals sensing data received from NOAA
Satellites, sea surface temperature and the presence
of phytoplankton which form the food of several
fish species.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
46. App consolidates this
information and presents
advisories in local
language.
Raigad, Maharashtra.
Registered users.
To reduce unnecessary
trips.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
47. IFFCO Kisan Agri
Developed by: IFFCO Kisan, a
subsidiary of Indian Farmers
Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd.
Features:
Weather
Market Price
Agricultural Advisory
Agriculture Library
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
49. Expert system for various crops
Sugarcane expert system
Cultivation practices
Irrigation management
Nutrient management
Crop protection
Post harvest technology
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
51. Coconut expert system
Pest and disease management
Coconut processing
Institutions for coconut
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
53. Fisher Friendly Mobile Application(FFMA)
Developed by: MS Swaminathan Research
Foundation in partnership with Qualcomm &
INCOIS.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
54. Pashu poshan
Balanced ration can be
formulated while optimizing
the cost considering animal
profile, i.e. cattle or buffalo,
age, milk production, milk
fat and feeding regime etc.
To adjust the quantity of
locally available feeding
ingredients offered to their
animals.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
56. Other apps
Shetkari Masik android app
“Shetkari Masik”-popular magazine
Department of agriculture, Maharashtra
Internet or wifi connectivity
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
57. Farm-O-Pedia
Developed by: C-DAC Mumbai
Multilingual android application
for rural Gujarat
Functions: suitable crops, crop
wise information, weather and
manage your cattle.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
58. Agri-app
Crop production, crop
protection, and all relevant
agriculture allied services on
your smartphone
Kannada, English, Hindi,
Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
59. Plant pest and disease management
Plantix
Features:
• Real-time diagnosis.
• Weather information system.
• Community features facilitates
interaction.
• Smallholder farmers as end-
users.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
60. Recently developed mobile applications
Meghdoot: The Ministry of Earth Sciences and
Agriculture have launched a mobile application that
will provide location, and crop and livestock-
specific weather- based agro advisories to farmers
in local languages.
CHC: Farmers can select and order the required
machinery at the feasible for them from the Custom
Hiring Centers located in the radius of 50 kms
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
61. M-Extension – Mobile Phones for
Agricultural Advisory Services
Mobile telephony – Subscription rate –
developing countries 22/100 in habitants in
2005 – 91.8 per 100 inhabitants in 2015.
Recent 3G and 4G technology play a crucial
role in the development of rural people.
Mobile phones – devices used to create,
store access and share information anytime,
anywhere.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
62. Cont…..
Teamed with extension and advisory
services help to improve the
livelihoods of rural people.
Getting much needed timely
information to their fingertips at
potentially low cost.
M-Extension – mobile based extension
advisory services.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
63. Impact of mobile based agro
advisory service
Mobile phones have reduced producer price
dispersion and ensured higher market participation
by farmers.
Helped to reduce wastage, increase the number of
transactions.
Information accessed through mobile phones has
strengthened local. Helped to preserve natural
resources.
It has also increased general awareness
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
64. Robots:
A robot is a mechanical, artificial
agent and is usually an
electromechanical system.
It is a device because of software
programming, makes complicated
tasks easy to perform.
ROBOTICS IN AGRICULTURE
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
65. AGRICULTURAL ROBOTICS
AGRIBOT is a self-directed agricultural robot
powered by solar energy.
It can control various aspects of farming like
ploughing and levelling, seed sowing, irrigation,
pest controlling, apart from on field surveillance
using camera movement.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
66. Agriculture robots
Agricultural Robotics is the logical proliferation of automation
technology into bio systems such as agriculture, forestry, green
house, horticulture etc.
In agriculture, the opportunities for robot-enhanced productivity are
immense and the robots are appearing on farms in various guises and
in increasing numbers
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
67. FUNCTION
The robot has two-main function:
To survey the crop growth
Create an automated harvest mechanism.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
69. Robots can move and sense.
They require multiple sensors and controls that allow
them to move in an unknown environment.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
70. Robots usually have five parts
1) Sensors
2) Controller/Computer
3) Drive/Actuator
4) Arm
5) End-effectors
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
71. 1. Demeter
2. Weed control robot
3. Forester robot
4. Robot in horticulture.
5. Fruit picking robot
6. Drones
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
72. Demeter is capable of planning harvesting operations for entire field
and driven by remote control.
Demeter is a robot that can cut crops it looks like a normal harvester,
but can drive by itself without any human supervision.
Source: Tom Pilarski et al.,(2002)
1.Demeter
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
73. Source: David Slaughter et
al.,(2008)
Weed identification is based on color photography.
A four-wheel-drive weed-seeking robot was developed
by the Danish Farm Research Authority.
The task of the weed removing device is to remove or
destroy the weed.
An intelligent hoe uses vision systems
to identify the row of crops, and steer
itself accurately between them,
considerably reducing the need for
herbicides.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
75. Pick ripe fruit without damaging the branches or leaves of the tree.
The robot can distinguish between fruit and leaves by using video
image capturing.
If a match is obtained, the fruit is picked.
Mobility is a priority and the robots must be able to access all areas of
the tree being harvested.
Source: Ashwini.K (2016)
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
77. 4. Forester robot
This is a special type of robot used for cutting
up of wood, tending trees, and pruning of X-
mass tree.
The forester robot having six legs moves
wonders in the forest.
It is used for harvesting pulp and hard wood
in the forests.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
79. To get a bird’s eye view of the land offers a quick and easy
way to check on the progress of crops and determine where
they may need to replant or direct pesticide applications.
It is also used for weed, pest and disease control.
Source :Anderson,C, (2014)
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
90. In the fully-automated Farm of the Future, dedicated
robots will take on farming jobs that once could be done
only by people.
It is not just on the ground that technology promises to
transform farming. Unmanned Air Vehicles, or drones, are
also coming into play on farms.
FUTURE FARM
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
92. Robots can work 24 hours a day, every day without
rest.
Robots don’t need to be paid wage (so money is
saved).
Robots are extremely accurate compared to humans,
so product quality is high.
Robots can perform tasks more quickly than
humans, so more products can be made.
Robots can work in very dangerous conditions.
It can reduce up to 97% of farm’s use of pesticide.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
93. Energy issues, costly.
People are made unemployed because robots are
doing their job.
Robots are very expensive and it can take more
time to pay for them.
lack of decision-making power.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
95. Conclusion
The world is today facing the pressing challenge of
unsustainable food production and consumption practices.
Today’s food system is the main driver of deforestation and
biodiversity loss and generates a quarter of the greenhouse
gas pollution globally.
In fact, climate change could force over 100 million people
into extreme poverty by 2030, mostly through impacts on
agriculture and food security.
Hence, improving the performance of the food system is
critical if we are to sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people
by 2050 while raising farmer incomes, protecting them from
climate change and helping them to thrive.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
96. Rapid population growth, changes in market demands,
depleting agricultural land, and significant changes in
climate patterns, including much more frequent extreme
events — all these factors are pushing agriculture out of
its traditional limits, towards a digital age. This trend is
supported by governments worldwide.
Digital farming technology will be key to increasing
agriculture productivity by delivering tailored
recommendations to farmers based on crop, planting
date, variety sown; real-time localized observed weather
and projected market prices.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension
97. Smart phones also enable farmers to integrate into
structured markets based on approved grades and
standards. The greatest impact of digital agriculture
will have is on the democratization of market pricing
and compressing transaction costs.
Digital technologies will also leverage social media
platforms to build human capacity. We need to put
our concrete efforts to place an effective framework,
in terms of appropriate policies and programs that
will harness the already well-known potentials of
digital technologies to put India on the higher
pedestal of the’ Second Green Revolution’ by making
Indian rural and agricultural sector self-sufficient.
24-Mar-22
Dr.C.THATCHINAMOORTHY, Agricultural
Extension