Digital technology intervention, key to addressing food security

Agriculture is fundamental to global wellbeing as it is responsible for the basic necessity, the food while impacting the other two essential human needs water and air. The vision of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is a world free from hunger and malnutrition, where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner.

We have made a lot of progress in reducing hunger and poverty and improving food security and nutrition over the past few decades. Gains in productivity and technological advances have contributed to more efficient resource use and improved food safety, but these advancements are unequally distributed.

However, as per the UN’s Hunger Report, significant concerns persist as 829 million people still suffer from hunger. In addition, global food security could be in jeopardy due to mounting pressures on natural resources and climate change, both of which threaten the sustainability of food systems.

Agriculture is in Crisis

Agriculture is in crisis today because of the complex interdependent challenges in ensuring food security. The significant challenges are:

• The uneven demographic population expansion.
•  The threats posed by climate change on agriculture productivity.
•  The intensification of natural disasters and extreme weather.
•  The upsurges in transboundary pests and diseases.
•  The changing demand pattern in the global food system.
•  The financial sustainability of environmentally sensitive farming for producers.

The key to addressing these challenges is a holistic approach to creating a technology-enabled demand-driven farming ecosystem.

Agriculture Economics, a Case for Realignment

The decline in the share of agriculture in total production and employment is occurring globally at a different pace posing unique challenges across regions. Although agricultural investments and technological innovations are boosting productivity, the growth of yields has slowed to rates that are too low to sustain the exploding global demand. While the food losses and waste claim a significant proportion of agricultural output, reducing them would lessen the need for production increases.

The need is to shift crop patterns and map crops with the geographies they are most suitable for cultivating using digital technology. At the same time, digital technology must be deployed for better post-farmgate logistic planning to reduce food waste.

Productivity or Livelihood, an Ongoing Debate

High-productivity food systems are capital-intensive, vertically integrated, and concentrated in fewer hands (read corporations and large holding farmers). In contrast, low-productivity food systems form the current broader base (read small and medium holding farmers). Capital is central to vital agricultural activities impacting production like quality input provisioning, access to modern technology, enforcement of efficient farming practices, farm-based logistics, and food distribution. Further, the enhanced risk associated with farming makes it unsustainable for those with fragmented land holdings and a lack of capital.

The livelihood of small and marginal farming households is decreasing, and they increasingly seek employment opportunities outside of agriculture for which they are not skilled. One of the possible ways to address this problem is to increase investment in digital infrastructure in public-private partnership mode and make small holding agriculture more profitable by reducing the cost of operations, mitigating risk, and robust market linkages through technology intervention.

Environmental Sustainability, a Necessity

The increase in the impact of climate change on every aspect of life is visible to one and all. Agriculture relies on freshwater as 70% of the global freshwater is used in agriculture. Poor irrigation and water management techniques lead to the loss of more than 40% of the water used in farming. The rising incomes and dietary changes imply more demand for water-intensive foods.

Today, 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high water shortages or scarcity, of whom 1.2 billion live in areas with very high water constraints. Without immediate action, these people and many more will be affected as fresh water is vital for basic human activities.

The need of the hour is to shift from high-input resource-intensive farming systems to sustainable food and agricultural production. Innovative digital technologies can enable precise use of resources, including water, protecting and enhancing the natural resource base while increasing productivity.

Demand and Consumption, an Eminent Shift

The world’s population will grow to almost 9.7 billion by 2050 and close to 10.9 billion by 2100, boosting agricultural demand (in a scenario of modest economic growth). Further, the income growth would hasten a dietary transition towards higher consumption of more nutritious food with higher protein and vitamins like fruits and vegetables relative to cereals, requiring commensurate shifts in output and adding pressure on natural resources.

There is also a visible trend of people looking for more sustainably grown food with a high density of nutrients and a shift to natural. This aspect makes it necessary to transform value chains in agriculture to make them more efficient and trusted. Digital technology that enables economic traceability and transparency will make not only trade safe but also food.

Digital Technologies for Present and Future of Agriculture

Digital technology can be pivotal in solving the long-standing challenges of agriculture. There are various use cases of digital technologies in agriculture. Some of the most important are the Internet of Things (IoT), Precision Agriculture using Autonomous Arial and Ground Vehicles (Drones), Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI&ML), and Blockchain.

IoT brings many advantages to the table due to its ability to innovate the landscape of current farming methods. IoT sensors capable of providing farmers with information about crop conditions, rainfall, pest infestation, and soil nutrition are invaluable to production and offer precise data valuable to improve farming techniques over time.

Precision agriculture and automation effectively reduce human efforts and resources used in farms. Drones are impactful as they help farmers execute tasks like spraying fertilizers or pesticides, taking real-time plant growth images, etc. The data collected by drones and satellites can be helpful for analysis and for passing on real-time information to the farmers at a farm level without going to the farm.

Big Data Analytics platforms vastly help farmers to make better decisions about the activities being done by them during cultivation. Collected ground-level real-time data can be used and analyzed to provide farmers with insights about what to do, when to do it, and how to do it in the form of recommendations.

AI&ML technologies like deep learning, computer vision, and artificial neural networks are used to detect pest infestations, crop stress, and nutritional deficiency, to name a few, for real-time intervention.

Transparency and traceability, enabling technologies like Blockchain can ensure both the agriculture input value chain and agriculture output value chain can be made efficient, corruption-free, and easy to regulate.

Today’s world needs the adoption of digital technology in agriculture faster than ever, not just to feed the inhabitants of this planet but to save the planet itself.

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