Farm to Fork: Let digital technology lead the way in sustainability

Digital Drive of Agriculture: Farming is witnessing the use of modern technology for higher productivity and profitability. Today, farmers use digital tools for farm management, financial services, market services, information and much more. ‘Smart agriculture’ makes use of big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) as well as software for remote sensing. IoT in agriculture includes integrated sensors, drones and computer imaging with analytical tools to generate actionable insights. Predictive analytics allows for quick decision making based on information derived from data mining, data modeling and machine learning (ML). Digital adoption can drive value addition across the entire farm-to-fork (F2F) supply chain, which includes the journey from planting to harvesting (fruits, vegetables, grains, etc.) until it lands on someone’s plate go. The stakeholders in this journey include agri suppliers, farmers, food processors, traders, retailers and finally the consumer.

Precision farming helps in increasing crop yields while reducing the use of resources. It measures and analyzes the needs of different regions and crops to aid in waste management, reduce production costs, optimize water use and minimize environmental impacts.

What ultimately links these elements in the value chain is sustainability, which refers to practices that ensure sustainable agricultural production and higher incomes while protecting the environment. Farmers apply inputs only to the parts of the farm that require it, improving product quality, reducing input costs, increasing productivity and ensuring environmental sustainability.

India’s growing digital ecosystem and high-speed internet is making it possible for agritech startups to use AI/ML models. Companies using precision technologies are helping farmers to a great extent in increasing yields. Due to the rise in online agritech platforms, farmers can now sell their produce directly without any middlemen and thus increase their income. It also helps in building trust and transparency between farmers and consumers.

Challenges of Digital Adoption in F2F Supply Chain: Modern agriculture depends on a smooth supply-chain mechanism to enable the F2F model. But there are challenges. For example, all the risk is concentrated on the farmer, who suffers from vagaries of weather, selection of profitable products, poor access to crop insurance, etc. We need to provide more value to the farmer as compensation for that burden.

Second, there is a fundamental lack of trust in the overall functioning of the F2F model. Over time, decision making in food production, crop marketing, transportation, etc. has become concentrated in the hands of large agricultural firms or producers. While production has increased, the democratization of decision making has suffered. Finally, the digital transformation of the sector is characterized by digital disparities between large and small farmers or between high and low income countries.

There are also challenges in the supplier ecosystem. A fertilizer or farm equipment manufacturer wants to help farmers, but is unable to create the right ecosystem to provide holistic solutions. Any solution has to be contextualised to a broad spectrum of problems across geographies and markets. Subsistence farmers cannot afford the capital expenditure, and other farmers also have financial constraints. This is a big challenge at the agricultural level.

While there is huge scope for using digital technologies for agriculture in India, various problems need to be overcome. As of now, the use of agricultural technology among the farmers of India is low. Productivity is also low, given the small holdings and overcrowding, which also contribute to our low levels of mechanization. Finally, the absence of agricultural marketing leaves farmers dependent on local traders and middlemen to sell their agricultural produce, which is sold at very low prices.

The grass looks green for the future of farming: Food systems cannot be resilient to crises such as the COVID pandemic if they are not sustainable. We need to redesign our food systems, which account for nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, consume vast amounts of natural resources, result in biodiversity loss, and provide a more sustainable environment for all do not provide economic benefit and livelihood, especially not to our primary producers.

New technologies, coupled with increasing public awareness and demand for sustainable food, can benefit all stakeholders in the value chain. In India, increasing internet usage and smartphone penetration has already changed the face of agriculture in significant ways, especially how small and medium farmers operate. This is helping direct access to markets, thus allowing farmers to retain a higher proportion of the value created.

Digital technology in agriculture is designed to support innovation and sustainable agricultural practices. To ensure its success, all changes must be holistic in their benefits and viewed as such. What is clearly favorable to the farmers will attract them.

Ananth Chandramouli is the Managing Director of India Business Unit, Capgemini