ICAR’s Technology Increases the Income of Over 70,000 Farmers

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) claims that its technology has doubled the income of roughly 75,000 farmers and that it will work to ensure that a similar number of farmers benefit from its technology.

"By implementing ICAR-developed technologies, as many as 75,000 farmers have quadrupled their income, with some even increasing their revenue by 5-7 times." Trilochan Mohapatra, director-general of the ICAR, stated, "Now we will develop a similar number of farmers."

Mohapatra, speaking at a Rural Voice conference on Thursday, said that while technology is crucial, increasing farmers' income is as important. He emphasized the importance of using cutting-edge technologies, such as precision farming, to conserve water and reduce urea consumption.

In the last seven years, 750 agricultural start-ups have been fostered, according to the ICAR DG.

These start-ups, according to former NABARD Chairman H K Bhanwala, have helped boost transparency. However, more credit should be made available to these start-ups to encourage more individuals to start their own businesses, he said, adding that the government could consider creating a special agriculture fund from which schemes can draw their own funds.

Importance of Technology in Agriculture:

Farmers are no longer required to apply water, fertilizers, and pesticides to entire fields in a regular manner. Instead, they can use the bare minimum of chemicals and focus on very precise locations, or even treat individual plants individually. The following are some of the advantages:

• Higher crop productivity

• Decreased use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which in turn keeps food prices down

• Reduced impact on natural ecosystems

• Less runoff of chemicals into groundwater and rivers

• Increased worker safety

The good news is that advancements in current digital technology have a clear potential to assist the agricultural system; these technological improvements can assist in making agriculture systems more efficient in their use of available resources, climate-resilient, and productive.