The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) claims that its technology has doubled the income of roughly 75,000 farmers and that it will work to ensure that a similar number of farmers benefit from its technology.
"By implementing ICAR-developed technologies, as many as 75,000 farmers have quadrupled their income, with some even increasing their revenue by 5-7 times." Trilochan Mohapatra, director-general of the ICAR, stated, "Now we will develop a similar number of farmers."
Mohapatra, speaking at a Rural Voice conference on Thursday, said that while technology is crucial, increasing farmers' income is as important. He emphasized the importance of using cutting-edge technologies, such as precision farming, to conserve water and reduce urea consumption.
In the last seven years, 750 agricultural start-ups have been fostered, according to the ICAR DG.
These start-ups, according to former NABARD Chairman H K Bhanwala, have helped boost transparency. However, more credit should be made available to these start-ups to encourage more individuals to start their own businesses, he said, adding that the government could consider creating a special agriculture fund from which schemes can draw their own funds.
Importance of Technology in Agriculture:
Farmers are no longer required to apply water, fertilizers, and pesticides to entire fields in a regular manner. Instead, they can use the bare minimum of chemicals and focus on very precise locations, or even treat individual plants individually. The following are some of the advantages:
-
Higher crop productivity
-
Decreased use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which in turn keeps food prices down
-
Reduced impact on natural ecosystems
-
Less runoff of chemicals into groundwater and rivers
-
Increased worker safety
The good news is that advancements in current digital technology have a clear potential to assist the agricultural system; these technological improvements can assist in making agriculture systems more efficient in their use of available resources, climate-resilient, and productive.
