New Delhi: Although new-age technologies have been introduced in the agriculture sector, several small and marginal farmers are deprived of these benefits because of unaffordable costs.
Expressing their views on modern technologies in the agriculture sector, experts said these technologies are still far from small and marginal farmers' approach as they are not financially strong enough to afford these. They have to hire basic equipment like tractors and ripers on rent every year.
Talking on the issue, a farmer Jaswinder Longowal of Kisan Majdoor Morcha told ETV Bharat, "In India, several modern technologies are available for farming but the basic issue is affordable. It is a very harsh situation for small and marginal farmers who have to hire tractors for cultivation and pay Rs 500 per acre and Rs 2000 for riper machines. At this condition, how would you think to use a Drone for pesticide spray or sensor to detect diseases that affect the plants."
Expressing similar views, agriculture expert and a farmer of Punjab Sukhwinder Kaur told ETV Bharat, "These modern technologies are useful for either huge landholding farmers or corporate houses in farming but small, marginal, rented farmers are deprived of these benefits because of high cost."
"The government has launched Digital Agriculture Mission, a major initiative that leverages technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, and geospatial data for better crop monitoring, soil management, and weather forecasting, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bhagirath Choudhary informed Lok Sabha.
About 156 technologies/machines/process protocols were developed for production and post-harvest production of agriculture, Choudhary replied in LS.
Another agriculture expert and farmer Dharmendra Malik told ETV Bharat, "The government should make a policy to spread knowledge from top to bottom and make these technologies affordable for grassroots-level farmers in villages. Government should develop blocks or clusters where all these facilities will be made available for small and marginal farmers."
"In the current scenario, a farmer has to spray pesticides in fields his own because he can't afford thousands of Rs for hiring drones," Malik added.
A farmer of Uttar Pradesh Amarpal Pal told ETV Bharat, "I am not able to buy a new tractor as its cost is around Rs 10 lakh so we have to hire tractors and riper on rent from nearby Cooperative society. The new modern technologies are good but these are beyond our reach."
