With the growing buzz around sustainable & scalable agriculture, the industry is now adopting ‘Digitisation’ as a part of this wave of revolution. Though these advancements are yet not fully integrated into a standardized system, the foundation stone has been laid.
Potential solutions for scalable & sustainable agriculture in today’s world include IOT Sensor, Camera led monitoring & assessment of the soil and crop, as this enables timely preventive measures to ensure reduction of crop spoilage and improved yield without intensive input of synthetic materials or fertilizers, leading to an increase in the earnings of the farmers.
Another option is gene analysis- studying and modifying the genetic material can enable the crop to withstand climate change, adapt to low water requirements, and ultimately lead to higher yield and cost efficiencies.
Traceability- One of the key reasons why agriculture outputs produce low economic value is due to a lack of ability to differentiate between the offering. But traceability can be established by using technologies like RFID, QR Codes, and Blockchain, which can enable the sellers to have greater control over the pricing of the output with a clear differentiation, leading to better economic returns. Moreover, with the producers being able to differentiate the price based on product differentiation, the focus on sustainable agriculture would increase.
India is largely dependent on agriculture to feed its population. Even though many startups are working towards technology inclusion at the grassroots level, the market is still largely untapped. Working together with farmers & farm workers and understanding the local topography, soil conditions, and climate will go a long way in scalable & sustainable investing.
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