Drones, or the unnamed aerial vehicles, are increasingly being used in a variety of sectors ranging from personal use to military purposes, but they can also contribute to a country’s economic output.
Drones have the potential to be at the centre of a technology-led transformation of Indian agriculture, increasing the country’s GDP by 1-1.5 percent while creating at least five lakh jobs in the coming years, according to report.
“There are truly revolutionary changes happening in the farthest reaches of the country – at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and agriculture as well as between military and civilian technologies – that have the power to truly transform a billion livelihoods,” said the report, prepared by WEF’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India in collaboration with Adani Group. “Drones are at the centre of such a revolution and can become the fulcrum for a technology-led transformation of the economy.”
Importance of the farm sector
The agriculture sector in India is vital to the economy because it provides a living for 8% of families and ensures food security for 1.3 billion people living in the world’s second most populous state. In fact, Indian agriculture is not only important for the domestic market, but it is also an important component of the global food supply chain.
According to the World Economic Forum, India exported agricultural and allied products worth $29,815 million in 2020-21. Agriculture accounts for 45.6% of the workforce and 18.29% of the gross value added (GVA) in 2019-2020, compared to the industry/services sector, which adds a gross value of 80% while employing 54.4% of the country’s workforce.
Challenges for the agriculture sector
However, the sector has reached a tipping point in which the challenge of food security is exacerbated by nutritional security, self-sufficiency, environmental issues, climate change, and sharp inflation.
Among other challenges, the farm sector faces fragmented landholdings, inefficient use of agricultural inputs, a lack of credit and financial inclusion, a lack of market access, and inadequate post-harvest infrastructure.
According to the report, a combination of infrastructure and access issues have prevented Indian agriculture from reaching its full potential.
Drones to the rescue
Like a messiah, the drones have the potential to transform the agriculture sector and reduce disparity in the employment-to-output ratio of agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
“Drones are poised to be an effective tool to support farmers reduce their operating costs and efforts, while at the same time optimizing their input use. There are multiple uses for drones, including surveying, seeding, spraying, pollination, etc. that are at different stages of technology and business model maturity,” said WEF.
Drones can also be an effective enabler for mainstreaming different emerging technologies such as advisories, yield estimation or insurance, it added.
More power to the drones
For the drone industry to thrive though as a viable mechanization option, enabling infrastructure needs must be strengthened above and beyond the recent policies of the Indian government. New Delhi has significantly eased drone policies with mechanisms such as the Production Linked Incentive scheme and import bans paving the way for
the domestic manufacturing sector.
Drone and drone components industry will attract $50 billion of investment in the next few years, which will help unlock the potential of the drone sector and make them as ubiquitous for Indian agriculture.
While emerging fourth industrial revolution technologies can help address these issues. According to a report by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), digital technology-based agriculture can unlock an additional $65 billion in value by 2025. The impact of digital agriculture on the gross domestic product (GDP) will be even greater.
Precision agriculture know-how and farm advisory services shared through multiple channels based on multiple existing and new data sources can enable a $25 billion economic opportunity by increasing productivity by 15%.
There is also an estimated potential for digital marketplaces to transact 40-60% of the agricultural surplus by 2025, as well as a 10% increase in farmers’ price realisation by selling produce through electronic channels, creating a $25 billion opportunity.
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