Remote Sensing Intervention & Its Impact on Farmer Cooperatives in India

Author: Tulasishyam Sharma, Sales Manager, RMSI Cropalytics

Introduction:

The agriculture sector contributes to India’s GDP by about 17.59% in FY 2024, whereas the service sector contributes about 54.86%, and the Industrial sector contributes about 27.55% (“India GDP Sector-Wise 2024 – StatisticsTimes.Com”). Even though the agricultural sector’s contribution is lower than the other two sectoral contributions to the country’s GDP, agriculture has been the lifeline of India’s economy since its Independence. During Independence, in the year 1947, the occupational dependence on agriculture was about 88%, which gradually reduced to about 50% due to higher rate of literacy, growth of service & industrial sectors, employment opportunities in other sectors, technological advancements, availability of information outside of agriculture and increased personal aspirations.

Irrespective of the reduction in the number of farmers/producers, India is still a major exporter of various agricultural commodities like Rice, Soybean, Maize, and Horticulture crops like Tomato, Chili, Mango, and Spices like Pepper, Cinnamon, etc. One reason for being a major exporter of these commodities is longstanding support from government bodies like state departments, NABARD, and technological intervention to mitigate the risks in farming, improve farm productivity, and ultimately double the farmers’ income.

In this article, we will further discuss the farmer collectives & Remote Sensing technology intervention and its relevance in today’s agricultural scenario.

What is an FPO?

A Producer Organisation (PO) is a legal entity formed by primary producers, viz. farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans, and craftsmen. A PO can be a producer company, a cooperative society, or any other legal form that provides for sharing profits/benefits among the members. In some forms, like producer companies, institutions of primary producers can also become members of PO.

Challenges Faced by Farmers & Framer Produce Companies using manual methods

1. Farm level Information:

 It is a well-known fact that farmers encounter risks such as unpredictable weather conditions, required soil moisture information, timely activities based on Package of Practices (PoP), and post-production risks related to the market.

• Crop Level Information:

Due to the shift in climate, crop growth can be hindered by new epidemics, pests, and diseases. These issues will be visible once the pest or disease has achieved a certain level of development. By this time, the productivity and growth of the crop is already affected.

• Regional Information (MIS):

Farmers, FPOs, Federations & Consortium’s decision-making is based on their historical experience and evidence. That may or may not be correct based on current season activities at a large level. Lack of such current seasonal information for selecting the crop, planning activities in the farm in adherence to climate-friendly best practices, and advance mitigation of pests and diseases will result in lower productivity, yield, and loss of better livelihood.

Solutions that can be derived using Remote Sensing Solutions

1. No Human Intervention:

As the data is gathered through active or passive satellites, there is no need for human activity/effort on the ground to gather information in most cases. It reduces the dependency on;

• People to gather visibility on production at regional as well as at a plot level
• External agencies to get market intelligence.

• Cost Effective:

Remote Sensing Solution is a plug-and-play model that helps with an easy subscription for the region and crop under focus.

• Scalability:

 Remote Sensing analysis can be scalable to the highest potential from farm-level analysis to global-level analysis with temporal frequency ranging between 2 days to 14 days depending on the need, objective, and cost.

Remote Sensing Solution Addressing Challenges Faced by Farmers & FPOs:

1. Farm Level monitoring:

Monitoring crops at the farm/plot level will help farmers, FPOs, and promoting bodies in crop identification, sowing & harvest progression, and soil moisture index. This information will help advise the farmers to understand overall sowing & harvest status.

• Command Area Assessment:

Larger area assessments from the ground can be complex, time-consuming, and costly. But remote sensing at a temporal resolution between 2 days to 14 days can cover the entire command area FPO wise, blocks wise at a much larger scale to understand various crops grown in the command area, water bodies, and their impact on soil moisture in the command area, and productivity of different crops.

This will help FPO promoting agencies and the Department of Agriculture get timely ground-level information, seasonal planning, and business intelligence.

• Pest & Disease Assessment:

Climate Shift is one of the main reasons behind new epidemics of disease & pests emerging in every cropping season, which can hinder the growth and productivity of the crop. One can understand the early emergence of pests and diseases using remote sensing solutions to plan and mitigate the risk in advance. Based on the forecast, spraying activities can be advised to farmers.

• Harvest Forecast:

Consolidated harvest information will be handy for FPOs and promoting bodies to understand crop-wise harvest progression & completion. This can only be achieved using remote sensing solutions at a plot level and regional level.

• Market Linkage:

Real-time information about harvest and productivity for each crop in the command area/regional level will be handy for FPOs and FPO promoting bodies to create market linkages to improve farmers’ livelihoods by timely selling of the produce.

In conclusion, remote sensing technology offers a powerful toolkit for addressing farmers’ and FPOs’ pressing challenges. Remote sensing solutions can help optimize agricultural practices, reduce risks, and improve overall productivity by providing timely insights into crop health, soil conditions, and weather patterns. As technology advances, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of remote sensing that will benefit the agricultural sector and FPOs.