Precision farming
Our levels of agricultural production and market demands
for quality products seem to have reached a stage where
conventional farming system alone may not help in improving
the economic conditions of farmers.
Even the intensively managed cropping systems are becoming
unsustainable with respect to increasing profitability. It has
become imperative that the next phase of the Green Revolution
must be triggered with a paradigm shift from the less
efficient conventional farming towards the efficient precision
farming system so that agricultural productivity and
profitability are optimised.
Precision agriculture has, more recently, been capturing the
imagination of all those concerned with profitable production
of food, feed and fibre by efficiently managing each factor in
the production system through holistic site-specific and
eco-regional farm management strategies.
The objectives of improving production and quality and
managing efficiently the inputs and natural resources are to
be achieved through precise adjustments of different farm
operations keeping in view the information about
field/farm/village variabilities in soil characteristics,
cropping system, biotic and abiotic stresses, etc and the
socio-economic needs of people in different eco-regions.
This concept does not involve changes in the agronomy and
physiology of crop production but offers to intensively use
modern information technology (IT) in conjunction with the
traditional knowledge for maximising crop production
efficiency, decreasing the production costs and minimising the
negative environmental impacts.
The conventional farming system is based on the use of
generalised recommendations across the whole field or in all
the fields of a farm/ village/region. The variabilities (over
distance, depth and time) in soil characteristics,
moisture-retention, topography, plant growth, pest
populations, etc are ignored.
This results in over-application of inputs in some fields
(decrease in profit margins) and under-application in others
(decrease in yield and quality). The conventional system has
also not been able to efficiently take care of the
post-harvest handling and the marketing of the produce.
There are many other such types of examples because of which
agricultural productivity and profitability under the
conventional farming are becoming unsustainable.
The precision management strategy requires efficient adoption
of a suite (package) of technologies rather than a single
technology, because of the involvement of a number of farm
operations, such as land preparation (levelling, tillage,
management of crop residues, etc), planting/sowing
(crop/variety selection, seeding, etc), management of inputs
(rates, time and method of application), harvesting and
processing (time, grading, etc), marketing (demand-driven,
quality, market intelligence), and many others.
Precision farmers have to quickly and precisely make decisions
about when, where, how and how much to perform these
operations in each field so as to reduce wastages and losses,
and ensure profit maximisation and protection of
agro-ecosystem.
For example, specific crops and their varieties have to be
selected for each region keeping in view the site-specific
biotic and abiotic stresses to reduce field-to-field or
regional imbalances in crop yields.
Since crop responses to applied fertiliser use has always to
be soil-test basis, site specific (based on soil fertility
status) judicious use of nutrients is to be made following the
best dose, time and method of application to increase
fertiliser use efficiency, decrease cost of production and
check soil depletion. Soil physical properties (texture,
compaction, water retention etc) and tillage needs greatly
vary even within the same field, and hence require to be
managed differently.
Hefty subsidies of electricity for pumping of water for
irrigation of crops have led to inefficient use and
over-exploitation of the groundwater. The resultant
input/output imbalance has caused depletion of groundwater in
some regions and water logging and salinity in others.
The efficiency of conventional surface irrigation method is
also very low (less that 50 per cent), which can be increased
up to 90-95 per cent) by furrow, sprinkler, and drip
irrigation.
Irrigation schedules for different crops have to be followed
efficiently for conserving water and increasing water use
efficiency. Pest (insects, diseases, weeds) incidence greatly
varies under different cropping systems, climatic conditions,
levels of applied irrigation and fertilisers, etc.
However, recommendations about the use of pesticides are made
on the basis of random pest-infestation observations. This
results in indiscriminate pesticide use, which can increase
resistance of pests of pesticides and encourage
pesticide-induced resurgences of pests.
Up to 80 per cent of the applied pesticides (spraying method)
do not reach the target site. Precision farmers use the right
kinds and doses of pesticides with right kind of spraying
equipment at the right time and get maximum benefit from the
pesticide and also check environmental pollution.
The improvements in input-use efficiency will check
environmental degradation and also improve quality of the
produce. These farmers will ensure profit maximisation from
each field through (i) higher productivity with the same level
of input (ii) the same productivity with lower level of input,
and (iii) higher productivity with reduced level of input.
The extent of total economic benefits will, however depend on
the extent of variabilities in different factors of crop
production and the efficiency with which different farm
operations are performed.
The key elements required for generation, dissemination and
adoption of precision farming techniques, therefore, include
information, technology and managements.
Information is needed about crop characteristics, soil
properties (topography, fertility status, texture, moisture
content/retention, tillage needs, salinity, waterlogging,
etc), incidence of pests (insects, diseases, weeds and
others), weather/climatic conditions, other biotic and abiotic
stresses, plant growth response, harvest and post-harvest
handling, marketing and market intelligence, socio-economic
conditions of farmers, etc. Detailed information, so
collected, can be used to create different kinds of maps of
the farms/villages/regions (e.g. different soil
characteristics, groundwater, pest incidence, weed
distribution, topography, environmental pollution, etc) which
can help the farmers in using the available information at
each step while making site-specific decisions for performing
different farm operations. Planners can use these maps for
regulating the supplies of inputs in different areas.
Technologies are rapidly evolving and farmers must keep up
with the changes that can help in increasing productivity and
profitability.
By Syed
Haider Abbas Zaidi and Engr. Mehwish Zia
THE DAWN
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