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

LIVESTOCK
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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