Dr. Banarsi Lal
The development and dissemination of improved agricultural technologies is observed as a way to increase crop productivity.Since the mid 20th century ,the international community has devoted a significant amount of resources to develop the technologies that increase farm production,reduce exposure of environmental shocks,produce more nutritious food,reduce human labour and promote long-term sustainability.It is necessary to adopt the new technologies on a large scale for achieving the desired impact. Quality food supply is the major issue in the present era.The demand of food has increased twice as per the growth rate of population.According to Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO),about 10 per cent of the global population or 815 million people are malnourished and do not have healthy food to live a healthy life.Use of modern farming has supported the farmers in many ways.It has been observed that with the adoption of modern agricultural technologies,production and productivity of crops have increased.Modern technologies have also helped to reduce the cost of cultivation and made farming much easier.Improved agricultural technologies have always been promoted by the government and development organisations to increase the farm productivity and reduce the poverty.However, the rate of adoption of new technologies remain slow.It has been observed that farmer education,household size,land size,access to credit,access to extension services,organisation membership etc.effect the adoption of modern agricultural technologies.The use of modern agricultural technologies is transforming rural communities and reshaping traditional farming systems.It has been observed that precision farming,biotechnology and farm mechanization contribute significantly to increase farm productivity.
Agriculture is the significant sector in the Indian economy. This sector contributes immensely to create income, employment, foreign exchange, food and many other sectors. Agricultural sector is the basic catalyst and accelerator of growth and development of the industrial and services sectors. It is helpful to mitigate the basic needs of the increasing population and to achieve the food security objectives by expanding the areas under agriculture. But this problem can be solved by increasing the agricultural productivity by utilizing the innovative agricultural technologies. Agricultural research and technological improvements are therefore crucial to increase farm production and productivity and thus can reduce the poverty and meet the demands of food without irreversible degradation of natural resources. Technological uses are greatly impacted by the technical trainings, meetings, campaigns, demonstrations, trials, oral transmission and credibility on technician and belief level on technology. Adoption of new technologies varies differently for the progressive, young and educated farmers.Generally the farmers are having positive perception of technologies but they face numerous problems in technology adoption due to lack of capital, guidelines and compensation policy. State and Central Governments are providing support to the farmers in increasing their crops yields through the use of various new technologies and schemes. An increase in agricultural productivity is a prevailing motive for the Indian farmers and a driving force in India’s agricultural policy. The success of modern technologies can be obtained by knowing how to apply fertilizers, pesticides and take care of plant for its healthy growth. A farming system is the result of a complex interaction of a number of interdependent components such as soil, water, crops, livestock, labour and other resources within an environmental setting. The total environment can be divided into two elements: technology and human. Technology determines the type and physical potential of different enterprises and includes the physical and biological factors that can be modified. The human element is characterized by exogenous and endogenous factors which can be controlled by the farm household. It is the household which ultimately decides whether to adopt a new technology or not. The decision of use of technologies is dependent on how farmers perceive the technology.
After independence, India has made significant progress in agricultural development. There has been substantial increase in available food-grain per capita. Before mid 1960s, India relied on imports and food aid to meet domestic requirements. Severe drought in 1965-66 compelled India to reform its agricultural methods. India adopted significant technological reforms and focused on the food grain self-sufficiency. This ushered in India’s Green Revolution. Superior high yielding and disease resistant wheat varieties in combination with better farming practices to improve production and productivity were adopted. A hectare of Indian wheat farm that produced an average of 0.8 tons in 1948 produced 4.7 tons of wheat in 1975 from the same piece of land. Such fast growth in farm productivity enabled India to become self-sufficient in the food grains. By 2000, Indian farmers adopted wheat varieties capable of yielding 6 tons of wheat per hectare. With Green Revolution success in wheat and rice was exceptionally obtained. Benefits of improved farming technologies now largely depend on whether India develops infrastructure such as reliable irrigation network, electricity production, flood control systems, transportation facilities and competitive buyers of produce from the Indian farmer.
The package of technologies provided by the scientists may seem attractive but the farmer may not adopt due to the financial risk. The provision of appropriate credit facilities may sufficiently reduce the risk element to make the package more attractive. The results of agricultural research include high yielding crop varieties, better livestock breeding practices, more effective fertilizers and pesticides and better farm management practices etc. Agricultural research and development are required to increase the production and productivity. Education also speeds the rate of adoption of new technologies by farmers. Farmers who have more education may be better able to understand the benefits of technology and can successfully adopt the new technology for their benefits. A large share of agricultural research expenditures is devoted in the maintenance of research. Educated farmers can gain technology skills through education to solve their field problems. Education is thus an investment in human capital analogous to a farmer’s investment in physical capital. Education hastens the rate of development of new system. It is also kept in mind that required input for the technology is available or not. There is need to look into the societal and cultural standards in which the technology operates. Collective technologies are more easily adopted as collective action reduces transaction cost.
Affordability of the technology is an important indicator for their wider use as cost is the major factor in encouraging or discouraging the application of appropriate technology in developing economies. In India labour is relatively cheaper than capital and thus, labour-intensive technologies are less costly. It is an important factor to find out how smoothly technology works in the local production system and the supportive system that explains to what degree is the technology system dependent or system independent. This indicates the need for understanding two types of risk i.e. the internal and external risk. Although analysis of risk is necessary before applying new technology, it is almost impossible to remove all risks. If the chosen device is static it will relatively reflect the short-lived solutions to a much larger problem. The technology, which supports the continuation of development by enhancing capability to expand, can be expected to compete at the regional, national and international level. A significant positive relationship between infrastructure and Indian agricultural productivity is essential to boost agricultural productivity. Improved road connectivity can reduce the farmers’ cost of acquiring agricultural production inputs and of transporting outputs to market. Performance of the technologies can be explained on the basis of their success and failure stories. The performance can also be assessed on the basis of percentage of population adopting to a particular technology. Modern technologies are helpful in improving the crops yields, protecting crops against diseases and pests, making livestock healthy, designing the best methods of crops storage and even helping in predicting the climate conducive for agricultural practices. The use of modern agricultural equipments and machineries help in making agricultural practices easy for the farmer. In the developing countries agricultural mechanization is the order of the day. Promotion of technology with social wisdom can help in preventing migration of youth from rural to urban areas, mitigate the adverse impact of climate change and revive agriculture for sustainability of India’s growth.In developing nations still there is a long way to go in the adoption ofmodern farming techniques.Path-breaking efforts are needed to increase the adoption rate of the modern technologies.There is need for spreading the technological advancements in agriculture such as artificial intelligence and farm mechanization.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head of KVK Reasi, SKUAST-J)