Helping The Crop And The Community In Indian Agriculture Through Drone Solutions

The importance of agriculture in India is one of those facts that receives widespread acknowledgement primarily due to the scale of its influence. Over half of the Indian population and almost 3/4th of all households depend on agriculture for their livelihood, and with good reason.

- T.R. Mughilan

Amongst all the nations in the world, India dedicates more than four times the global average of its land to grow crops. Chances are that the writer, readers, and editors of this article are direct descendants from farmers or are actively engaged in farming.

The Indian agricultural output has gone through drastic and amazing transformational jumps. We have an agricultural trade surplus amongst nations that grow a wide range of crops for international consumption.

However, the growth that Indian agriculture has seen is not without its caveats. Consistent pursuit of surplus-driven growth has lead to land parcels in many parts of India reaching their productivity threshold and becoming progressively less productive and cultivable. States all over the country are feeling the pinch of decreasing sustainability of practices used in the decades since independence. Farmlands are among the worst performing assets nationwide as is evidenced by reports from the RBI indicating that agriculture has about 60,000 crores in non-performing assets (NPAs). While the reasons for this are complex, multi-layered, and vast, resulting from factors that go beyond just the ecological such as: the socioeconomic; and political. The following content of the article attempts to focus on aspects of the age-old problems that new-age technology can help to solve, with a particular focus on drone-based solutions for the most important stakeholders in the grand scheme of things such as: the crop; and the community.

Drone-based Solutions for the Crops