Farmers have been facing numerous challenges and problems for decades. The lack of proper knowledge about farming, climate change, insufficient water supply, lack of direct market access, expert advice on crops failure, lack of knowledge about mandi rates, and various other issues. Though with the aim of transforming India into a digitalized society, we are seeing some improvements in the agriculture sector. A lot of startups and the government is taking the initiative to make some improvements and to reduce the challenges faced by the farmers. Today there are a lot of agriculture network platforms where farmers can connect with each other and get consultation on crop failure and farming tips. Let’s understand some of the problems and the challenges faced by farmers and how farming apps are helping to solve them.
Climate change – It is one of the crucial problems farmers have to face on a daily basis. Change in the weather patterns affect the crops directly and the fluctuation in the climate is a real threat to farmers. As farming is dependent on good weather, rainfall, wind, heat waves, high and low temperature, and many other factors. Good or Bad climate change has the potential to affect the productivity of the crops and the price. As there is so much uncertainty in the weather, if it can be predicted and informed to the farmers earlier, it can be a boon for the farmers. To resolve this issue, a lot of farming apps have been developed to provide weather forecast information so that wise decisions can be made by the farmers.
Limited Information – As there is very limited information available with the farmers with respect to kheti, organic farming, polyhouse farming, fasal gyaan, fasal suraksha, poultry farming, horticulture, goat farming and dairy farming etc. To bridge this information gap, farming apps have come up with the farming tips column where farmers can read anything related to farming and can watch agriculture videos. In case farmers have any queries or have questions they can even consult with the agri and pashu experts online. Farmers can also get information related to the Government and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna.
Lack of Direct Access to Markets – Talking about the other problem farmers face today is the fair price for the crops, tools and the lack of direct access to the markets. Thanks to the advancement in technology, easy access to smartphones, and the internet. With the help of the farming apps, without going physically to the market to sell or buy the products, today farmers can purchase agriculture products, seeds and tools online. Farming apps have an online farmers market where farmers can contact the sellers directly using the app and buy a wide range of products.
To conclude, India is pushing and leveraging the technology to modernize the agricultural process and empowering kisan by reducing the challenges and the problems faced on a daily basis. And it plans to implement more solutions to reduce the cost and double the farmers income in the near future.