6 technologies that can help drought hit farmers

MUMBAI, INDIA: Yesterday, we wrote about how farmers are leveraging mobile phones, and listed some of the benefits of the mobile technologies.

Today, in Part 2 and the last of the series, we list six specific technologies that can help drought hit farmers prepare for the future.

In general, ICT is used by farmers for irrigation to measure, control and monitor the amount of water delivered to the crops through newly installed systems comprising pumps, valves, controllers, sensors and telecom network cables, suggests Santosh Ostwal, CEO & Founder Director, Ossian Agro Automation.

Let us explore each of these.

1.    Remote controller for water pumps: These are SIM card enabled electronic devices connected to the pump by which a farmer can switch on-off the pump with the help of a mobile phone. The farmer can also obtain information about status of the power/ water level by SMS. In India, the technology is being used by 25,000 farmers. The Karnataka government has already started initiated a similar project under its m-governance program under the Center of e-governance.

2.   Timers modulated with wireless controllers: Water scarcity in the tube wells and storage tanks during summers necessitates precise control for irrigation. A variety of timer-based systems modulated with wireless remote controllers are quite useful in deciding the amount of water for the crops.

Especially for the drip and sprinklers irrigation, ICT is a real boon. Precise control over a drop of water can be achieved during the drought period with such systems.

3.   Computerized precision control of irrigation: The daily, weekly and monthly program of irrigation control can be set on the PC or even a mobile phone and then decided amount of water can be delivered to the crops by controlling the electromagnetic valves or hydraulic capillary controlled valves. The amount of water for different seasons can be programmed on the mobile phone depending on the water level and available sources.

4.   Soil moisture sensor-based precision irrigation: This type of automatic irrigation system is in use in Israel where available amount of water per hectare is very less. But, in India, there is a need to develop appropriate infrastructure in the farm land for accommodating the different components like precision high value controllers, sensors, cable, valves, battery wires, telecom network lines, etc. As an experiment, many corporates have started work in this domain but the fruits are yet to reach the farmers on the scalable level beyond the internal laboratory pilot projects.

There is a need of the pioneering work from the ICT companies in this domain considering the ground requirements of the Indian farmers. These ground realities include erratic power, illiteracy, hazardous conditions in the farms, nuisance to machines by animals, cost factor etc.

5.   Water Level measurement on mobile phone: The level of the water can be transmitted to the user’s mobile phone. This is useful for every drinking water supply tanks in the villages.

6.   Flow controlled systems: In industries and few municipal corporations; solutions have been implemented to measure and control the exact amount of water passing through pipe lines. The same system can be used for farmers who can also measure water levels and shut off the valve as per the requirements.