Smart farming with IoT devices

More than 500 kilometres from Athani, in Karnataka’s H-Cross Village in Chikbalapur district, farmer Ranjith who cultivates pomegranates on a 10-acre farm, has ditched the conventional methods of irrigation. He now relies on Fasal IoT, an IoT-powered device created by agritech startup Fasal, for all his farming decisions. IoT stands for ‘internet of things’ which refers to devices with sensors and software that can gather and exchange data over the internet.

Today, Ranjith has decided not to irrigate the field, because an alert on his smartphone noted that there is enough moisture around the primary root zone of the plants. While the surface might look dry, the soil sensors of the IoT device, present underground, gather data, to prompt this alert.

“Before installing the IoT device, water management was a big burden for us. We used to irrigate the field three times every week. Now, it has been reduced to twice a week. And by preventing diseases with smart irrigation techniques, our fertiliser cost has reduced by 40%. Around 30% sprays are reduced now, because of disease management. Overall, 40-50% of production cost has been reduced,” he tells Mongabay-India.

Explaining how the device works, the founder of Fasal, Ananda Verma, talks from their Bengaluru office, “Fasal IoT captures macroclimatic data in terms of rainfall, windspeed, wind direction, solar intensity and microclimatic data such as canopy temperature, humidity and leaf wetness. We also capture below the soil parameters such as soil moisture and soil temperature. All this data goes to the cloud servers that we have, where we run agronomy models. These models tell what the idealistic behaviour of the crop is and whether the current climatic conditions are favouring the behaviour or deviating from that. Accordingly, we recommend farmers what actions need to be taken.”

India is the largest consumer of freshwater, most of which is used for agriculture. “In this era of climate change, it (an IoT device) is a must for a progressive farmer. There are water shortages and rising temperatures. By using these smart-irrigation devices we can save the production cost, reduce water consumption and improve the quality of the produce,” says Ranjith, who also exports his pomegranate.

Fasal claims that the smart-irrigation devices have allowed them to save around 80 billion litres of water. “We are present in more than 75,000 acres of land, so far. Horticulture is our primary target because horticulture is a part of agriculture where the management of crops is very critical, especially when it comes to weather, diseases and pests,” Verma shares.

The Indian horticulture sector contributes about 33% to the agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA), making a very significant contribution to the Indian economy. The country ranks second in fruits and vegetable production in the world. But climate change has thrown up several risks for horticulture crops, especially pest attacks. Some tech-savvy farmers are bypassing this challenge with pest identification apps that help in early detection, to contain the spread.

An app to diagnose pest attacks and diseases

Farmers Sreenivasa Babu and Anita Murthy in Shadnagar, Telangana, located about 55 kilometres away from the capital, Hyderabad, are on their routine evening walk in their mango farm. The farm is alive with the sound of peacocks. The mangoes are ready to ripen in a few weeks, right on time for peak summer. However, on a few trees, the duo spots a black layer enveloping the leaves. They suspect it’s a disease, but they need to confirm the name and know what to do about it.

They quickly open an app called Plantix on their smartphone, take a picture of the affected leaf and upload it. Within seconds, the app diagnoses that it is ‘sooty mold’, a fungi, which has affected the tree and provides recommendations to the farmer on how to treat the plant.

“There’s also a tab called ‘Treatment’ and when you click on it, I will get to know organic control and chemical control. If I find that the disease is very less, I then first use organic control methods, which is usually neem oil and garlic ginger paste mixed with neem oil. Also, the way to use the organic control and its quantity in proportion to water, all the details are very clear,” shares Murthy. “The diagnosis is immediate. So, the loss of fruits or flowers is much less, which is very important for horticulture crops,” adds Babu.

Plantix can diagnose pests and diseases in about 31 major crops which includes paddy, maize, cotton and some fruits and vegetables. Since the diseases are also known differently in different parts of the country, the app is made available in 18 Indian languages, enabling easier access for farmers.

“An important feature of the app is the disease alert feature,” shares Padmaja Goka, Business Manager at Plantix, speaking to Mongabay-India from Plantix’s Hyderabad office. “If there is a prevailing pest or disease spreading in an area, the farmers using the app receive an alert. Heavy agricultural loss can therefore be prevented,” Goka explains.

The need for a digital agriculture framework

While a segment of farmers has started using artificial intelligence (AI), smart equipment and internet of things sensors to practice climate-smart farming, the technology adoption is fragmented. To leverage the agritech solutions in India, and cross over the liminal space, it is crucial to raise awareness among farmers on the best practices and educate them on the use different techniques to adapt to the effects of climate change, says Purushottam Kaushik, Head, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum.

Kaushik is a part of Telangana’s AI for Agriculture Innovation initiative that launched a pilot project called Saagu Baagu, targeting 7,000 chilli farmers. The digital advisory services from the project contributed to a 21% increase in chilli yield production per acre. Learning from this success, Kaushik calls for a digital agriculture framework that would help governments create an enabling environment.

“Data is an important resource for the successful implementation of new technologies. Agritech companies can provide smallholder and women farmers with information-sharing packages to enhance their understanding of unpredictable weather patterns/precautionary measures. On a global level, startups need to collaborate and consult with experts, relevant stakeholders, government bodies, large industry partners to develop a blueprint on how to tackle this pressing challenge with digital agriculture practices and create a sustainable plan for the future,” he shares.

Banner image: Farmer Ranjith at his pomegranate farm in H-Cross, Karnataka. Farmers in Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala are embracing agritech solutions to improve efficiency and increase profits.  Photo by Narayana Swamy Subbaraman/Mongabay.

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Aditi Tandon Senior Production Editor

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AgricultureBiodiversityClimate ChangeClimate Change AdaptationTechnologyIndiaKarnatakaKeralaTelangana

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