Application of Science and Technology in agriculture
Science and technology play an important role in every field.
Here the application of Science and Technology in agriculture generally refers to improving the crop yield, protecting the crop against diseases and pests, the method to store the crops for long life, healthy and high yielding livestock and also predicting the whether.
As you know today’s agriculture is evolved so much. It uses advanced technologies such as robots, sensors to measure temperature and moisture, aerial images from satellites, remote sensing, and also GPS technologies.
The use of these technologies not only increases profits and yields but also helps to make more environmental-friendly practices.
Basic Use of Science in Agriculture
Crop Rotation and Use of Chemicals
Science helps us understand, what is the necessity of rotating a crop and fertilizing the soil to improve soil health, increase yield, and also keep it environment friendly.
Crop Rotation is a method of planting different crops one after the other on the same farm to improve soil health and also to fight against pests.
Water Sampling
Today water Sampling is done in the most areas to check whether the water complies with water quality standards such as is it suitable for drinking for both Humans and Animals, and is good for cultivation.
In Water Sampling, water is collected from a particular region and tested for quality and other standards.
Drone
Earlier, in developed countries Aircraft were used for putting fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
Today these were replaced by Drones. As Drones a cheaper, even in developing like India, Brazil, etc Drones are used in Agriculture.
Drones have multiple applications, as drone uses cameras which are used for crop health monitoring and also to gather, and analyse other agriculture-related pieces of information.
How science and technology are helping Indian agriculture?
During British India and immediately after the freedom, India was heavily dependent upon other countries even for food grains such as wheat, Barley, rice, etc.
India had to import food grains in exchange for precious minerals.
Immediately after the Independence, the Nehru Government took several aggressive steps to improve agriculture at a rapid rate and to become self-sufficient as soon as possible.
The Nehru-led Indian government was very much aware that the application of Science and Technology in agriculture is the most important thing to be done immediately.
Green Revolution
Green Revolution refers to technological breakthroughs in agriculture. During the 1960s the traditional agricultural practices were replaced by modern technologies gradually.
Initially, the new technology was tried in 1960-61 in 7 districts as a pilot project. This was called as High Yielding Varieties Programme (HYVP).
Effects of Green Revolution
Achievement of Green Revolution
Boost in the production of major cereals such as wheat and rice. India’s dependency on the US for Food Grains The Green revolution was confined only to High Yielding Varieties (HYV) such as rice, wheat, maize, and jowar.
This strategy was directed to increase the production of commercial crops or cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds, and potatoes.
The productivity of all crops per hectare had increased due to better seeds. The green revolution had a good effect on the development of industries, that manufactured agricultural tools like tractors, engines, threshers, and pumping sets.
It increased rural employment and their standard of living. The demand for labor has increased due to multiple cropping and more use of chemical fertilizers.
The financial resources were provided by banks and cooperative societies on easy terms.
Once India was dependent on the US for food grains. The US used Public Law 480(PL480) to export wheat to Indians.
On the other hand, India lost lots of minerals. The US strategically exploited the Indian minerals at the cheapest prices for manufacturing missiles and weapons that largely contributed to US GDP.
Problems of Green Revolution
Indian Agriculture is highly dependent on the monsoons. Green Revolution needs heavy investment in seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and water.
The income gap between large, marginal, and small farmers has increased. The Gap between the irrigated and rain-fed areas had widened.
Farm mechanization has created widespread unemployment among agricultural labourers in rural areas except in Punjab. Larger chemical and inorganic materials such as pesticides and fertilizers reduced soil and human health.
Second green revolution upsc
The Government of India implemented, the second green revolution to achieve higher agricultural growth. Its target is 400 million tons of food grains production against 214 million tons in 2006-07.
This is to be achieved by 2020. In the agricultural sector, the growth rate of 5% to 6% has to be maintained over the next 15 years.
Requirements for Second Green revolution
Introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) seeds which double the per acreage production. Contribution of the private sector to market the usage of GM foods.
Government plays a key role in expediting irrigation schemes and managing water resources. Linking of the river to transfer surplus water to deficient areas.
Green Initiatives
Today people strive for sustainability and more eco-friendly lifestyles. They are passionate about protecting nature. Therefore we should bring about the change through political lobbying, citizen action, and consumer pressure.
Organic Farming
Agriculture method that relies on animal manure, organic waste, crop rotation, legumes, and biological pest control. It avoids chemicals.
Alkali Farming
Nearly 50 percent of the irrigated land in the arid and semi-arid regions has some degree of soil salinization problems.
The occurrence of accumulation of excess salt in the acid in the root zone results in a partial or complete loss of soil productivity and such soil is defined as ‘Problem (alkali, saline & acid) Soils’ and exist mainly in arid and semi-arid regions.
The alkali soils are predominantly located in the Indo-Gangetic plains encompassing the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and partly in States like Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
Conclusion
The application of Science and Technology in agriculture helped India achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. Due to this India went on to become one of the largest exporters of several food grains and livestock in the world.
Today the future the Science and Technology in agriculture should work more on eco-friendly techniques such as organic farming.