ICT Revolution in Indian Farming System

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“Information and Communication Technology” is big revolution in Indian farming community regarding the information about Agriculture production and market linkages between farmer and Mandis. It is great initiative which has been taken by the government of India. In 2013 the revenue of the Indian ICT sector was valued at US$ 108 billion and it is expected to reach the US$ 225 billion landmark by 2020. The industry performance this year demonstrated the sector’s ability to innovate and deliver differently, in order to maintain the growth trajectory.

It is part of e-agriculture which is developing and applying innovative ways to use ICTS in the rural farmer or marginal farmers which helps to link them with APMC. The importance of agricultural extension in providing the relevant information, technology and knowledge to the farmers and creating the enabling environment to increase production and productivity is quite clear, as mandated under the National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP). In this context, ICT in Farming is used as an umbrella term encompassing of all information and communication technologies including devices, networks, mobiles, services and applications; these range from innovative Internet-era technologies and sensors to other preexisting aids such as fixed telephones, televisions, radios and satellites.the ICT concept to reduce gap between government and farmers, it is sustainable development diction which has been taken by the government of India for farmer development with the help of IT sector The ICT is mainly focusing on rural domain of India. The ICT concept take one step ahead to our farming community regarding the distribution of correct information to get benefit which comes from Indian Government for Farmer. The General Directorate of Extension and Agriculture Development (GDEAD) has been developing many ICT innovations in linking research-extension-education for agriculture, which will create a common architecture for digital information aggregation and services in the context of agricultural practices involving multiple institutions and stakeholders with widely varying requirements and criteria for usefulness or effectiveness. ICT helps farmers to increase the income in the form of distribution of correct farming information. Currently our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is talking about Farmer’s double Income, this ICT could be the first step of Farmer’s double Income for Indian farmers. This initiative would be help full for horticulture and agriculture crop producer in the form of double income of Indian farmers. The information and communication technology is creating job opportunities for private sector as well as Government sector for IT specialist and good Agriculture Extension officers who can work with ICT in form of rural farmer development in India, ICT works on the farmers requirement on the better information regarding new technology, good agriculture practices, Mandi rate, fertilizer and pest control related information which ICT gives to Farmer. Some private organization like Godrej Agrovet, Syngenta, and TechnoServe gives basic information regarding Mandi price and some information. Some other organization which are helping to develop Indian farmers.

History of ICT in India:

The IT sector has helped transform India’s image to a global IT player and been a driver of higher education. The industry is expected to reach a revenue of USD 225 billion in 2020. Today, the revenue of the sector is USD 108 billion. The distribution between the sub-sectors is that telecom services accounts for 44 % of revenue, IT services accounts for 24 %, devices are responsible for 17 % of the revenue, while enterprise software only accounts for 7 % of total revenue but has the highest growth rate of 6, 8 %. In 2013, the overall spending grew with 4, 2 %. However, it is expected the growth will decline to 3, 8 % in 2014. The IT sector contributed with 8% of the GDP in India, a significant increase from 1, 2% in 1998 India is a key player in the global ICT world. India’s total IT industry (including hardware) share in the global market stands at 9%. In the IT segment the share is 6% while in the ICTS space the share is 2%. India’s IT and BPO sector exports are expected to grow by 12-14 per cent in FY14 to touch USD 84 billion – USD 87 billion. In 2012-13, it is estimated that IT exports reached 75 billion which was a 10% increase. The growth of ICT sector helps in growth of GDP in India, the form of exports and imports of agriculture commodities its helps to rural farmers about the current price of near market and farmers have option about the price on which farmers easily they can compare the price of different Mandi. There is some challenges which is affecting to ICT in farming during the poor networking and some individual problem which farmers was facing like no electricity poor connectivity with Telecom Company these are the major problems which affects the steps of ICT in India. ICT is big step which has been taken by the our government, where farmers are getting basic information, and as all though some other sector is developing drastically and our agriculture sector how it could be the last in 21st century. There are major challenges or risk are involved in this term but it would be good for future of Indian Farmers.

Dr. Kanika Singla

Ph.D., IARI Postdoctoral Scholar, UC Berkeley

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