Over 50 per cent of the land under cultivation in India is dependent entirely on the monsoons. About 47 per cent is covered by irrigation, but the amount of water supply is not entirely reliable. The problems are aggravated by skewed government policies on fertiliser use, which have created soil imbalances and other issues. As a result, farm productivity has been growing only incrementally over the past couple of decades.
There are other problems as well. One of the prime issues of concern is the highly inefficient supply chain that connects the farmer to the consumer markets. As a result, while the consumer often pays a reasonably high price for buying everything from vegetables to grain, the farmer often gets only a fraction of it. Rural incomes and farm incomes, therefore, have been growing very slowly, despite the numerous efforts by the government.
If there is any one area where technology and smart thinking can bring about enormous improvements, it is in the agriculture sector. We start the section with an article by Dr. David Bergvinson of International Crops Institute on how to empower small landholders through digital agriculture. Then we look at how drip irrigation and vertical farming methods, such as acquaponics, can bring about a revolution in productivity, while reducing dependence on monsoons or even cultivable area. We also look at some small experiments being tried out to fix everything from the problem of accessing good farm equipment to solving the vegetable supply chain issues.