Relevance: GS III (Agriculture & Technology) | Source: Business Line

1. What is the Big News?

India is working fast to transform its traditional farmlands into “Smart Farms.”

• The government is bringing modern technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI), flying drones, and digital data directly to the common farmer.
• The main goal is to increase their daily income and protect their crops from climate change.

2. The New Tech Tools (Important for Prelims)

To understand this digital revolution, you need to know three simple tools:

• AgriStack (The Digital ID): Just like Aadhaar is for citizens, AgriStack is a digital ID for farmers. It connects a farmer’s land records, crop details, and bank account. This ensures government money (subsidies) reaches the correct farmer directly without any middlemen.
• Precision Farming: Instead of blindly wasting water or spraying chemicals all over a large field, farmers use smart sensors. They use drones to spray only the specific plants that are dry or sick.
• Big Data & AI: Computers study decades of past weather patterns and soil health. They then send an SMS to the farmer, telling them the exact best day to plant seeds for a maximum harvest.

3. Why Does Indian Farming Need This?

• Labour Shortage: As rural youth move to cities for jobs, finding workers for farms is getting very tough. A single drone can spray a field five times faster than human hands.
• Fighting Climate Change: With unpredictable monsoons and sudden heatwaves, AI apps help predict the weather accurately and suggest climate-smart seeds.
• Saving Money & Health: Using the exact required amount of costly fertilizers saves the farmer’s money. Also, using drones protects farmers from directly breathing in poisonous chemical sprays.

4. Important Government Steps

• Digital Agriculture Mission: The national master plan to bring AI, satellite mapping, and internet tools into everyday farming.
• Kisan Drones (Drone Shakti): A special scheme that gives heavy financial discounts to farmer groups and rural youth to buy and fly agricultural drones.

5. The Ground Realities (The Challenges)

• Tiny Farms: Most Indian farmers own very small, broken pieces of land. It is economically difficult to fly a costly drone over just half an acre of land.
• Cost & Digital Literacy: Buying smart sensors is too expensive for poor farmers. Furthermore, older farmers often find it very difficult to operate complex smartphone apps.

UPSC Value Box

With reference to technology in agriculture, consider the following statements:

1. ‘AgriStack’ is a collection of technology-based interventions aimed at creating a unified digital identity for farmers and their land records.
2. Precision farming often leads to an increase in the overall usage of chemical fertilizers and water across the entire agricultural field.
3. The ‘Kisan Drone’ initiative provides financial assistance for purchasing drones to spray pesticides and crop nutrients.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 1 and 3 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b)