Technology Use In Agriculture Sector

Jammu and Kashmir farm sector of late is embracing technology to some extent at various levels and increasing use can potentially change agriculture landscape in near future.

The technology penetration in the farm sector is happening at multiple levels across the globe including in many parts of India. It is expected these technologies interventions will help increase crop yield, bring stability in production, and make crops resistant to pests and ecological changes. Improvement in the post-harvesting shelf life is also expected to a large extent.

In this context, Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta rightly underlined that the use of advanced technology like artificial intelligence and other practices can increase the farmers income manifold. Chairing a meeting of the Steering Committee for Digital Agriculture Mission (Agristack) to discuss the mission’s implementation here, he said  that such a platform can actually revolutionize the Agriculture sector. The introduction of modern technology aided by globally acclaimed practices can surely give extraordinary results in terms of both the quality and quantity of the produce.

The assurance by the top civil officer that the administration aims at bridging the divide between agriculture and technology is welcome and must be augmented. He rightly stressed the need to provide farmers with real time information and solutions to their problems. As emphasised by him, the administration’s endeavor should be to provide end to end digitization to farmers so that they do not have to look for different services and solutions here and there. Different interventions like digitization of land records, availability of expert opinions, farm practices guided by modern technology and techniques besides use of high yielding varieties of agricultural inputs can fructify the dream of doubling the farmers income in near future.

The Chief Secretary propounded that the real task is to create a database of all the relevant records and information for extending all the help readily on real time basis. Such steps must be ensured at an earliest. He rightly stressed on the need to intensify the efforts to at least double the Agricultural GDP in next ten years. All the measures needed to be taken to make farming a highly remunerative and gainful profession.

The government should also provide technology support to confront weather vagaries. More tools than ever are available to mitigate the vagaries of nature and the administration must work in making them available to the farmers. The administration should also focus on online marketplaces for the farmers so that they gain more than they ordinarily do.

Related Articles