In the agricultural sector, farming usually involves heavy and extensive labor to ensure good quality produce that still meets the quantity needed to feed an entire population. However, even with this much effort, good harvest can only be seen in certain seasons all throughout the year. 

A study by Nigam et al. (2022) shows that in India, agriculture plays an important role as a primary source of income for a huge part of their community. However, with the recent shift in people’s preferences increasing towards high quality and hygienic food, conventional farming is not as efficient in keeping up with these demands, especially if not intervened with agricultural technology. 

Technological intervention in farming

As any other sector in a community, agriculture also has to evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing technological landscape. This means that farmers, along with other agricultural workers, should have proper access and knowledge about agricultural technology to improve their ability to adopt information technology. This provides more knowledge in producing high quality crops with lower effort and in a more efficient way (Ernawatiningsih et al., 2023). 

A study by Ernawatiningsih et al. (2023) shows how it is crucial that farmers learn to adopt information technology in farming. With the government’s help through proper training and assistance, the farmers can continuously improve yield quality and consistently provide for the country’s needs.

Grow-IoT

A study by Nigam et al. (2022) presents the Grow-IoT application to help the farmers with farm monitoring and plant health. Grow-IoT is a smart analytics application that is accessible and usable by farmers. It provides a smart module that provides a detailed analysis of plant health through its phenotypic features through the use of cameras and sensors that are strategically placed on the field. Crop images are processed through Computer Vision algorithms and will be sent to the Cloud, whereas the sensors will help farmers determine crucial parameters such as temperature, pH, and soil moisture which can affect plant health. 

Nigam et al. (2022) discussed how the overall status of the farm will be sent to the Cloud for real-time analytics, and then shown in the Grow-IoT application interface where all important insights are provided and are easily accessible to the farmers. The application’s user interface is also visually appealing, which ensures that all data is recorded and displayed in the simplest way possible.

Moreover, the study has shown that since the farmers will be able to monitor plant health through the application’s detailed analysis, cameras, and smart sensors, they can easily determine which parts are affected and need urgent care. These affected parts are the only ones to be sprayed with chemicals, in comparison to the whole planting area receiving the same chemicals even when it is not needed.

The Grow-IoT application helps ensure a more convenient, efficient, and effective farming, while also consistently helping with the production of the best crops throughout the whole year. It can be a great intervention to help meet the rising demands in high quality food, meet the needs of a population, and help reduce the farmers’ labor in agricultural production processes (Nigam et al., 2022). 

You may access the full study here. 

Article contributed by Louise Stephanie Umali, ComDev Asia Intern