IT and AGRICULTURE
Ms. Puja Kadam,
SRIMCA ,
Teaching
Assistant
Agriculture for decades had been associated with the production of basic food crops. Agriculture plays a crucial role in the life of an economy. It is the stamina of our economic system. Agriculture not only provides food and raw material but also employment opportunities to a very large proportion of population. The following facts clearly highlight the importance of agriculture.
- Source of Livelihood.
- Contribution to National Income.
- Supply of Food and Fodder.
- Importance in International Trade.
- Marketable Surplus.
- Vast Employment Opportunities.
- Overall Economic Development.
- Contribution to Foreign Exchange Resources.
Ethics is concerning choices, and agricultural ethics is a propos choices for people affianced in agriculture either directly as farmers, or indirectly as government regulators, extension agents, researchers, CEOs, industrial workers, lawmakers, technology developers, consumers, or protestors. Grippingly, people affianced in agriculture, whether as producers, scientists, administrators, legislators, or protestors, all tend to believe that they are on high moral ground. Because they are part of that most noble of human endeavours, to feed the people of the Earth, they have a “moral confidence” in their profession and often fail to see the need to scrutinize their choices. The ethical values are changing day by day. One reason for our ongoing ethical dilemmas is that society's values are not immutable but change over time. Slavery, once acceptable in many cultures, is not acceptable any longer in urbanized societies although it still flourishes in many embryonic countries.
ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE
Information Technology is the buzz technology now-a-days. In any sector information is the key for its development. Agriculture is not omission to it. If the relevant and right information in right time is provided it can facilitate agriculture a lot. It helps to take timely action, prepare strategies for next season or year, speculate the market changes, and avoid unfavourable circumstances. So the development of agriculture may depend on how fast and relevant information is provided to the end users.
Information Technology (IT) has stretched out and been viewed as having great potential for improving decision making in agriculture. IT has connected the world globally and is now changing our life style and social consciousness dynamically. In all phases of the agricultural industry, information technologies are vital to the management and success of a business. Conversely, technology is changing the way that humans operate the machines, as computer monitoring systems, GPS locators, and self-steer programs allow the most advanced tractors and implements to be more precise and less wasteful in the use of fuel, seed, or fertilizer. In the foreseeable future, some agricultural machines will be capable of driving themselves, using GPS maps and electronic sensors. Even more esoteric are the new areas of nanotechnology and genetic engineering, where submicroscopic devices and biological processes, respectively, are being used as machines to perform agricultural tasks in unusual new ways.
DISC Pre-plant models helps citrus growers to determine which rootstocks and grafted scion varieties (the top producing plant part) are best apposite for a particular soil on your chattels. These models are based on GPS, Global Positioning Systems, using satellites and soil maps plus the knowledge of citrus scientists and growers. GPS-GIS, Global Positioning Systems, Graphical Information Systems, will help growers utilize Precision Agriculture by matching inputs based on actual yields of different portions on the field or grove. If the soils on a particular area only yield so much, you can cut back on fertilizers in that area, thus saving money and the leaching of excess fertilizer into the surface water. Where soils are low in organic matter, less herbicide can be applied. Equipment capable of varying applications of fertilizers and chemicals need to be developed with GPS systems and groves need to be mapped to identify the needs of specific areas. These have to be, and will be, cost beneficial to be able to utilize this new technology. Already, many growers use sprayers that turn nozzles off and on depending on tree size using special sensors. For a large tree, all of the nozzles are open. For a small tree, only the lower nozzles are activated. If there is a dead or missing tree, all of the nozzles are turned off. This alone has saved some growers in excess of 30% of spray material costs and has reduced the amount of chemicals being applied.. “When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”