The backbone of the Indian economy lies in Agriculture, the industry that needs immediate support. 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas with more than 40% of the country’s population involved in agriculture. The Indian agriculture industry is one of the major influential industries that contributes to 16% of the country’s GDP.
Despite being the only sector responsible for feeding every individual, the situation of the people involved in agriculture is the worst. It’s high time to introduce advanced technology to improve the overall agricultural scenario in India.
Role of data science in improving agriculture
Indian agriculture lacks attention from several institutions in the country. Farmers are not provided adequate support from banks in the form of loans and welfare schemes, as such, they are compelled to suffer from catastrophic disasters. Unfortunate situations like climate change, droughts, floods, depletion in ground level, and unfair price-fixing strategies of production increase the plight of the farmers.
The revolutionary technology of data science has made great waves in several Indian industries like IT, healthcare and more. Investors are now planning to utilize the potential of data science in boosting the agriculture industry in India. The increasing ratio of suicides among farmers along with the lack of advanced technologies have worsened the situation. Data science technologies like Big Data and Machine Learning are utilized in the research of parameters that are associated with proper soil health and improved crop growth.
Data Science helps in increasing awareness of farm productivity, educating farmers with the knowledge of proper timing of irrigation, sowing of seeds, harvesting and crop cutting. Data Science helps in settling risk assessments for banking and insurance companies and provides insights on the basis of current and historical image analysis.
Data Science has introduced the concept of field monitoring through satellite images, prediction on the direction of the wind, tractors enabled with GPS, and sensors that notify the fertilizer and pesticide requirement of the crop field.
Data science supervises and monitors the growth and nutrient requirement of individual plants. Farmers are now able to analyze the variety of crops to be grown for future harvests along with soil health, rainfall prediction, and water availability with data science technology.
Ways in which data scientists can benefit Indian Agriculture
- Data scientists have the right tools to efficiently analyze huge amounts of data and utilize the information in helping small scale farmers to combat food shortages. A project was launched in September 2018, that analyzed the data from 500 million farmers hailing from impoverished areas. In alliance with the United Nations, this project aims at enhancing the agricultural productivity and incomes of several farmers across developing nations to reduce hunger.
- Excessive use of pesticides can have adverse effects on plants and other living beings. Data Scientists play a major role in this regard by analyzing the right time and proportion of pesticide application. Data Scientists rely on artificial intelligence and sensors to determine the kind and quantity of insects present on the crops. Based on this analysis farmers are provided with a report that enables them to plan proper approaches for pest management. Data Scientists aim to help farmers to control pests in a cost-effective way with minimum environmental impact.
- Data scientists utilize special tools to identify several patterns and relationships among chemical elements that might help in improving crop production. Scientists inculcate farmers with the knowledge of increasing the metabolic functions of poultry and livestock with the incorporation of trace elements and other essential minerals.
- The incorporation of databases with extensive study has brought substantial changes in agricultural sectors. Farmers and animal breeders are using the data analysis to improve their productivity with proper knowledge of scientific techniques that can enhance their income.
- Data Scientists helps farmers in combating damages that can be caused by climate change. Farmers are now well aware of the future climatic changes in advance. This helps them in planning the type of crops to be grown in particular climatic change. Farmers can now take adequate precautions to prevent any kind of severe climatic damage that could otherwise lead to massive destruction.
- Scientists analyze the satellite images of the crop and land to determine the weather and other factors of the region that could increase crop productivity.
- Data scientists have helped farmers to predict the yield of a particular season’s production in advance. Framers are no more surprised with the production amount at the end of the crop season.
- Data Scientists also work to scrutinize the soil of agricultural lands and implement techniques to increase soil productivity by adapting to several climate changes.
Establishing a Career as an agricultural data scientist
The interdisciplinary field of Agriculture science is complex. Agriculture science utilizes all the fundamentals of various science domains like chemistry, biology, physics, maths, and statistics, business management as well as economics. As far as the scenario of Indian Agriculture is concerned, it is still in its developing stage and requires proficient experts with versatile skills to bring a revolutionary change in Indian agriculture and its economy.
The role of a data scientist in agriculture is no less than any other industry. The exposure to several other wings, like soil science, biotechnology of plants and animals helps aspiring data scientists to work and develop a huge impact in the field and help in developing the condition of the farmers as well.
What are the challenges in introducing Data Science in Indian Agriculture?
Getting Skilled Data Scientists is not a difficult task in India as the majority of going scientists are enough educated and technologically skilled. The challenge comes with the implementation of Data Science in agriculture.
Lack of proper infrastructure and funds poses a major problem in implementing advanced machines and technologies. Lack of proper education and awareness among farmers is yet another tough challenge in this regard.
To improve the overall scenario of Indian Agriculture, Data Science is very essential to improve the condition of the farmers and their families. The Indian economy will also get a huge boost with the growth in GDP. Hence a combination of proper education and infrastructure with improved technology can lead to the overall growth of the nation.
