21 highlights
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But every once in a while, farms pop up into plain sight in the most unexpected places. Just like in Andy Weir’s 2011 novel The Martian
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But, over the last decade, we have moved on from adding agriculture to science fiction to adding science fiction to agriculture.
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Apparently, technology will save farmers and save the world, again. But will it, really?
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India’s views on technology in agriculture are unduly influenced by solutions that come from Israel, the Netherlands and other such countries that are challenged for space or climate and are working their way around it through tech innovations. These technologies have clear benefits when applied in similar contexts, but they pose multiple challenges when they are applied out of context in India.
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Take urea, for instance, which was an exciting new technology about half a century ago. Its use has resulted in a rise in output, but its impacts have not been sustainable. Long-term use of the chemical fertilizer, thanks to massive government subsidies that continue after decades, has resulted in large-scale deterioration of land and water quality with several environmental and health challenges.
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Or take the combine harvester, which has revolutionized harvesting in the country. It reduces time and labour and is cost-efficient. But it also leaves behind a lot of stubble, which the farmers are forced to burn—because they don’t have any other practical option—adding to the air pollution that causes severe respiratory problems in north India every year.
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Today, almost all the more than 100 greenhouses set up some years ago lie unused and in tatters. Factors like high humidity made them useless, resulting in crop failures and financial losses to farmers.
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This is exactly what happens when you take solutions from countries where just 3-4% of the population is involved in agriculture and try to force-fit it in the Indian context, where two out of three people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and farm debts are already going through the roof.
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As compelling as the narrative of big tech or venture capital solving the world’s problems is, it presents a highly selective and narrow view of the problems that the majority of farmers (small and medium scale) in India are facing
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It practically excludes around 82% of India’s farmers and does nothing to improve their incomes. What’s worse, this narrative is used to push technology to farmers top-down, backed by public money via government subsidies that could help elsewhere. Instead, the benefits will most likely accrue to large agribusinesses, helping them establish greater scale and tilt the balance even more against small and marginal farmers whose struggles are well documented.
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The truth is that even as agriculture technology has made big strides in adoption overseas, it hasn’t really resulted in improving farm profits and incomes except where large farms or agribusinesses are involved.1
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Hydroponics works for the grower of high-value crops or where there is potential for high-value addition, but does this really make hydroponics a valid solution for the problems facing Indian agriculture?
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It is highly unsuitable for rural farmers who have more land and very little capital. Even acknowledging its very real benefits in preserving water, improved productivity and requiring very little space, it’s unsustainable for most farmers in India.
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Recent ideas evolving from the venture capital-driven agri-startup ecosystem are even more disturbing. A veritable salad of solutions including drones, satellite-guided precision farming, Big Data, blockchain and IoT has arrived in the realm of mainstream agriculture.
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Even more alarming is that the government seems to be seriously considering boosting this high-tech vision on steroids by incorporating this into agricultural reforms. This will lead to a shift of control of farm data (and, in the long run, farm policy) to private entities who can determine the choices available to farmers.
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We need to be wary of the flag-bearers of agri-technology as their reductive views can lead to solutions whose external impacts are detrimental in the long run (remember urea?).
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First, we must accept that technology has a limited role to play, given the wide range of problems that farmers face in agriculture.
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Second, the very basic requirements of most of these technologies—power, connectivity and the skills to use and maintain them—need to be put in place BEFORE we present them as a solution
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Third, we need to begin by identifying technologies that can actually work in India and build them from the ground up rather than force-fitting solutions imported from elsewhere.
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Fourth, we need to create an open-source model for its application that allows farmers to participate in the process collectively and individually.
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Finally, we need to ensure that the larger share of financial resources is dedicated to technologies that are affordable for the large majority of small and medium farmers.
Footnotes
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Citation needed ↩