Precision Agriculture

Global Food Security status

Social scientists believe that the civilization on earth is as old as five thousand to seven thousand years. Since the dawn of civilization, human societies are inextricably linked to the soil, water, plant and animal biosystems. Human beings relied on these natural forms for their subsistence and survival and will continue to rely on them in the ages to come. Therefore, this interactive dependence on various biosystems has become inevitable for human existence. So, the necessity to safeguard these vital elements of nature is of paramount importance to the very sustenance of human race on earth. Today, the world population has crossed the mark of 6.6 billion and the annual rate of growth of population is estimated to be about 1.25 to 1.5%. That means a total of 80 million people are getting added to this planet every year. The global population is likely to get stabilized at 12 billion towards the end of this century. Despite the fact that the annual food grain production standing at 2100 Mt which translates to a global per capita production of 318 kg per year, 800 million people world wide continue to suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition (FAO 2008 Report). Therefore, countries have the necessity to feed the growing millions of mouths. The United Nations continues to feed these third world countries whose standards of living are unimaginably impoverished. Augmenting food production will bring these millions of people under the food security net.

Agricultural and Environmental issues

Countries are under tremendous pressure to meet the growing demand for food and also the increasing threat to the environment due to unsustainable practices adopted in meeting these requirements. Increasing the food production seems to be a viable option to help achieve global food security. But, there are other issues which are associated with food production like falling productivity levels, resource constraints and increased use of chemical fertilizers. A recent survey points to the fact that 40% of the deaths in the world are caused due to environmental pollution. Damage caused to the environment due to the indiscriminate use of fertilizers and other chemicals is irreversible. Excessive use of macro fertilizers like N and P in agriculture leads to environmental degradation resulting in poor soil health and ground water contamination. Nitrogen is a potential source for ground water pollution. Due to its negative charge, nitrate ion does not get attracted to the soil particles and hence leeches along the soil profile in to the ground water. Blue baby syndrome, cancer and miscarriage are the common effects of consuming nitrate contaminated water. Similarly phosphorous impact on environment is through a process called eutrophication (accelerated growth of algae & duckweed leading to the increasing BOD value – more than 250 mg/L - of the water body there by inhibiting aquatic life forms). Human health concerns arising out of excess phosphorus are liver and kidney damage, skin burns, nausea and even fatality (white phosphorous). The world today is at cross roads, not knowing what direction to take in order to manage the myriad problems arising out of the Food vs. Environment dilemma.

Need for Precision Agriculture systems

Though organic farming methods can contain the environmental issues and assure high quality produce, it will be too early to shift the input base from chemical to organic. Progressive introduction of organic fertilizers will help in adjusting the farming systems to meet the demand for food. For now, organic fertilizers can only complement the use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the best strategy will be to rationalize the application of chemical fertilizers. Precision farming system is a robust method to help the farmers rationalize the application of inputs like fertilizers. Precision agriculture or precision farming is a modern agricultural concept relying on the existence of in – field variability. It is about doing the right thing, in the right place, in the right way and at the right time.

Elements of Precision Agriculture systems

Precision agriculture aims at integrating agriculture, information and machine systems at macro level. This is achieved through the use of elements like spatial referencing using GIS, soil, crop and climate monitoring, attribute mapping, decision support systems and differential action using GPS. GIS is a static mapping system. Where as GPS is a real time guiding system. Using spatial referencing, the farm plot is mapped and divided in to grids called micro-sites. GPS guided Grid sampling is done to understand the variability with in the crop, soil and climatic conditions. The data obtained in this will be used for attribute mapping. The attribute mapping will provide information relating to soil moisture and variable distribution of N-P-K across the field. The attribute mapping will be fed in to the Decision Support System which will generate an optimized model showing the variability of attributes across the field and subsequent commands to decrease the variability. This set of data commands will be supplied to the embedded systems of the farm equipment which will ultimately act in a differential pattern there by reducing the attribute variability. Precision agriculture is soon gaining popularity among the farming community. Many agriculture based technology companies are in to the business of making appropriate decision support tools and other equipment required for carrying precision agriculture.

Challenges

As far as precision agriculture goes, the road ahead is filled with challenges not only in its use but also its adaptability at farm level. Precision farming offers multitude of opportunities and equal number of limitations too. Better agronomic management can be achieved, only if the topography is favorable. Because of its technical advancement, time can be effectively managed. However, the systems are very complex for a layman to work upon without proper training and experience. Impact of agriculture on environment can be reduced through optimized nutrient management. But, precision agriculture is one of the many tools used in the process of making agriculture more sustainable. It is not an end in itself but only a means to a right end. Adoption of precision agriculture technologies is an excellent farm management strategy as it offers promising economical benefits like reduction in input cost and increase in efficiency. Again, the initial capital investment to procure all the required equipment & gadgets is somewhat high.