In today’s world, farmers are beginning to rely on apps for making important decisions on farming issues, be it planting, seeding, irrigating, or harvesting. This has helped in a scenario of untimely rains, hailstorms, and floods that have had disastrous effect on the farmer community in the recent past.
Apps Helping Farmers
There are some smartphone apps like ‘Smartfarm’, created by cropIn, which details everything from the farming plot, to weather alerts, to historical data about any crop diseases, to standard best practices, to output forecast, etc. The app geotags the farming land so that a farmer can know the exact size of the plot and can plan everything accordingly. Moreover, increased mobile data speeds, cheaper smartphones, and better electricity supply are revolutionising farmers’ lives in Bihar.
CropIn is a Bengaluru-based agri-tech startup, which works with forecasting company SkyMet and Bihar’s Sustainable livelihood and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC). Funded by the World Bank, the project involving the setting up of the app ‘SmartFarm’ aims to facilitate farmers in coping with the risks of climate change and the impact of climate change on agriculture and livestock, and to help them in real-world solutions.
Tailored Advisory from the App
Currently, two districts of Bihar—Madhubani and Gaya—have been chosen for the pilot project. Here, farmers receive tailored advisory on whether to delay irrigating their crops or harvesting them early, to switching crops and to growing alternative crops in times of excessive rains—mushrooms and lotus seeds, for instance, can be grown in the submerged fields.
Disease Control and Treatment
The app not only advises farmers on irrigation and harvesting, but also offers them timely insight on coping with crop diseases. Farmers can simply click and upload photos of the affected crop on their apps. Within days, an expert team of agricultural scientists send them advisory on how to mitigate the disease or which crop medicine should be used. The app also helps in treating livestock diseases. Thanks to the app, farmers have started embracing biopesticides as per the advisory. Some have started even growing biopesticides, as an alternate way to living. As a result, over 1,000 farmers have registered their 2,691 farming plots on the app.
Switching of Crops
Technology can usher in a deeper societal change. Farmers are getting motivated to move away from tobacco crops to papaya, etc., as per insights received from apps, brought out by DeHaat. DeHaat is an agri-tech startup, founded by IIT Delhi alumunus, Shashank Kumar. DeHaat also helps farmers become micro-entrepreneurs, who advise local farmers to grow papaya instead of tobacco and provide them seeds and pesticides on their doorsteps at 30–40 per cent cheaper rates.
In the country, the average farm landholdings have shrunk to 0.6 hectares in recent times. Moreover, unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change and other factors are proving to be a challenge. So, there is all the more a need to efficiently utilise the resources and help farmers make informed farming decisions.
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Apps and Farming
Smart phones are of utmost necessity for farmers in this era of technology as their apps certainly help them in at least four fields—weather alerts, breaking monopolies, crop choice, and better prices—besides many other uses.
* Mobile apps for weather alerts give crucial information on whether to help farmers decide on matters like harvesting early and delaying irrigation.
* Farmers can depend on micro entrepreneurs who sell at a reasonable rate, instead of middlemen.
* For purchasing seeds, fertilisers, and other necessities.
* Apps inform regarding matters of crop cultivation, pricing, etc., such as which crops are to be grown to avail of a higher market price; which crops are suited to specific areas, such as a drought-prone area or a field submerged due to heavy rains; and what is the crop price (without the farmer having to go to the market).