Applications of agricultural Inputs

Applications of agricultural inputs at uniform rates across the field without due regard to in-field variations in soil fertility and crop conditions does not yield desirable results in terms of crop yield. The management of in-field variability in soil fertility and crop conditions for improving the crop production and minimizing the environmental impact is the crux of precision farming.

Thus, the information on spatial variability in soil fertility status and crop conditions is a pre-requisite for adoption of precision farming. Space technology including global positioning system (GPS) and GIS holds good promise in deriving information on soil attributes and crop yield, and allows monitoring seasonally- variable soil and crop characteristics, namely soil moisture, crop-phenology, growth, evapotranspiration, nutrient deficiency, crop disease, and weed and insect infestation, which, in turn, help in optimizing inputs and maximizing crop yield and income.

Though widely adopted in developed countries, the adoption of precision farming in India is yet to take a firm ground primarily due to its unique pattern of land holdings, poor infrastructure, lack of farmers’ inclination to take risk, socio-economic and demographic conditions. Factors Contribution to Decline of Agriculture:Slow Down in Agricultural and Rural Non-Farm Growth: Both the poorest as well as the more prosperous ‘Green Revolution’ states of Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have recently witnessed a slow-down in agricultural growth and it ultimately lead for farmer’s suicide.

Some of the factors hampering the revival of growth are: • Poor composition of public expenditures: Public spending on agricultural subsidies is crowding out productivity-enhancing investments such as agricultural research and extension, as well as investments in rural infrastructure, and the health and education of the rural people. In 1999/2000, agricultural subsidies amounted to 3 percent of GDP and were over 7 times the public investments in the sector.• Over-regulation of domestic agricultural trade: While economic and trade reforms in the 1990s helped to improve the incentive framework, over-regulation of domestic trade has increased costs, price risks and uncertainty, undermining the sector’s competitiveness.• Government interventions in labor, land, and credit markets: More rapid growth of the rural non-farm sector is constrained by government interventions in factor markets -- labor, land, and credit -- and in output markets, such as the small-scale reservation of enterprises.• Inadequate infrastructure and services in rural areas. Infrastructure is also a significant factor in the process of development but country like our rural Bharat has not posses the infrastructure such as roads, electricity, fertilizer and pesticides availability which caused the vulnerable damage to the growth of agriculture. Weak Framework for Sustainable Water Management and Irrigation: Inequitable allocation of water: Many states lack the incentives, policy, regulatory, and institutional framework for the efficient, sustainable, and equitable allocation of water. Deteriorating irrigation infrastructure: Public spending in irrigation is spread over many uncompleted projects. In addition, existing infrastructure has rapidly deteriorated as operations and maintenance is given lower priority.Inadequate Access to Land and Finance: Stringent land regulations discourage rural investments: While land distribution has become less skewed, land policy and regulations to increase security of tenure (including restrictions or bans on renting land or converting it to other uses) have had the unintended effect of reducing access by the landless and discouraging rural investments.Computerization of land records has brought to light institutional weaknesses: State government initiatives to computerize land records have reduced transaction costs and increased transparency, but also brought to light institutional weaknesses.

Rural poor have little access to credit: While India has a wide network of rural finance institutions, many of the rural poor remain excluded, due to inefficiencies in the formal finance institutions, the weak regulatory framework, high transaction costs, and risks associated with lending to agriculture.Weak Natural Resources Management: One quarter of India’s population depends on forests for at least part of their livelihoods.A purely conservation approach to forests is ineffective: Experience in India shows that a purely conservation approach to natural resources management does not work effectively and does little to reduce poverty.Weak resource rights for forest communities: The forest sector is also faced with weak resource rights and economic incentives for communities, an inefficient legal framework and participatory management, and poor access to markets. Weak delivery of basic services in rural areas:Low bureaucratic accountability and inefficient use of public funds: Despite large expenditures in rural development, a highly centralized bureaucracy with low accountability and inefficient use of public funds limit their impact on poverty. In 1992, India amended its Constitution to create three tiers of democratically elected rural local governments bringing governance down to the villages. However, the transfer of authority, funds, and functionaries to these local bodies is progressing slowly, in part due to political vested interests. The poor are not empowered to contribute to shaping public programs or to hold local governments accountable.