Agricultural Informatics & Communication Perspective and prospective

1. Agricultural Informatics & CommunicationPerspective and prospective M.V.S. Sarma Agricultural Informatics Division National Informatics Centre Department of Information Technology

2. Indian Agriculture • Agriculture Sector is changing the socio-economic environments of the population due to liberalization and globalization • About 75% people are living in rural areas and are still dependent on Agriculture. About 43% of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity • Agriculture continues to play a major role in Indian Economy

3. Indian Agriculture • Provides about 65% of the livelihood • Accounts for 27% of GDP • Contributes 21% of Total Exports, and Supplies Raw materials to Industries • Growth Rate in production - 5.7% • Food grains production – 211.17 mt

4. India’s position in world Agriculture Rank • Total Area Seventh • Irrigated Area First • Population Second • Economically Active population Second • Total Cereals Third • Wheat Second • Rice Second • Coarse grains Fourth • Total Pulses First • Oil Seeds Second • Fruits and Vegetables Second • Implements (Tractors) Third • Milk First • Live Stock (castles, Buffaloes) First

5. Agricultural Resources Total Geographical Area (TGA) - 329 M.H Potential for Biological Production - 265 M.H Net Sown Area (NSA) - 143 M.H Net Irrigated Area - 56 M.H Area threatened by land degradation - 50% of T GA Drought-prone Area - 190 M.H

6. Mile Stones in Agricultural Development • Green Revolution (1968) • Ever-Green Revolution (1996) • Blue Revolution (water, fish) • White Revolution (Milk) • Yellow Revolution (flower, edible) • Bio-Technology Revolution • ICT Revolution

7. Development of Indian Agriculture : Basic Issues • Revitalization of Cooperative Institutions • Improving Rural Credits • Research, Education & Extension • Human Resources Development • Trade & Export Promotion • Land Reforms • Enabling Environment for higher Agricultural Growth

8. The thrust areas: • Diversification of Agriculture • Inter-cropping • Micro Management • Water Management • Organic Farming • Agri-Clinics and Agri-business Centres • Bio-Technology

9. Efforts on Policies, strategies and Frameworks • National Agriculture Policy (2000) • National Seeds policy (2002) • Cooperative Policy • Agricultural Price policy • Agricultural Extension Framework (2001) • WTO/GATT agreement (1994) In addition to, various working groups, taskforces, mid-term appraisalsandplan schemes (~68) (for further details www.agricoop.nic.in)

10. Reports • Agriculture Credit, Cooperation and Crop • Horticulture Development including Spices Aromatic and Medicinal Plants and Plantation Crops Agriculture Infrastructure/Warehousing/Rural Godowns/Marketing/Post Harvest Management, Processing and Cold Storage, Trade and Export Promotion. • Crop Husbandry, Demand and Supply Projections and Agricultural Inputs Agriculture Research and Education • Animal Husbandry & Dairying • Agriculture Statistics • Watershed Development, Rainfed Farming and Natural Resources Management • |Agriculture Development in Eastern and North-Eastern India • Agriculture and Allied Sectors • Organic and Biodynamic Farming (for further details www.planningcommission.nic.in)

11. Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Development • Biotechnology • Pre & post harvesting technology • Energy saving technology • Environment protection technology • Information and Communication technology • GIS & RS technology • Internet/Intranet Technology

12. Fusion of Technologiesfor Sustainable Development - A Synergy of Multiple Disciplines • Database Technology • Internet/Intranet Technology • GIS and Remote Sensing • Image Processing • GPS • Artificial Intelligence • Modeling

13. IT led Agricultural DevelopmentThe beginning: (e-readiness) • A two day conference (ISDA-1995 ) was held to assess IT Infrastructure and empowerment needs for IT led development in Agriculture Sector (one of the major recommendations was about 3% of the agriculture budget should be spent on Informatics Development) • IT Plan for Agriculture Sector (AGRISNET) was submitted to Ministry of Agriculture in 1997 to establish “Indian Agriculture on-line” and revised in 2000.

14. IT Applications for Agricultural Development Requires Inter-Sectoral Approach

15. Ministry of Agriculture Resource Information Specified Subject Portals AgRIS Census Marketing Mach. States / Uts / Districts Coop. AGRISNET Crops Exten. Fert Credit PPQ DM Hort PP RFS TMOP DACNET IRS Attached/subordinate offices ARISNET FARMER ICAR Institutes

16. Complementarities Among the Proposed Networks DACNET DAC Portals AGRISNET ARISNET AgRIS

17. IT plan for Agriculture • To strengthen IT in Agriculture and creation of Databases & Information Network for Agriculture Sector :- • The plan was divided into three schemes by DAC • Central Sector Schemes proposed • DAC Hqrs • Networking of DAC Field Units (DACNET) • State & District and Sub-District level (AGRISNET)

18. Present Status of IT Scheme (s) of DAC: Various Components emerging as one scheme: • IT apparatus in DAC Hqrs. • IT apparatus in the Field offices and Directorates of DAC (DACNET) Phase II • Development of Agricultural Informatics and Communication • Agricultural Resources Information System • IT apparatus for States/UTs (AGRISNET) and • Agricultural Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET) Phase II

19. Information Systems Requirement in Agriculture GIS/RS based Systems: • Soil and Land use • Watershed developments • Disaster management • Cropping systems • Agriculture Resources Information • Organic farming (bio-fertilisers) • Crop weather watch

20. Decision Support Systems • Integrated Nutrient Management • Integrated Pest Management • Demand-Supply Projections • Soil-Water balance • Credit Management • Inter-cropping systems • Bio-fertilizer management • Early Warning System

21. E-Commerce Applications • Agri-Business (Agri-clinics and Agri-Business Centres) • Agricultural Marketing • Agricultural Trade • Cooperatives • Horticulture (horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, aquaculture etc,. ) • Organic farming • Agriculture Statistics

22. Ongoing ICT Projects of DAC • DACNET (dacnet.nic.in) • AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in) • PPIN (cib/rc) (cibrc.nic.in) • VISTARNET • AGRICULTURAL CENSUS • NADAMS (National Agricultural Drought Advisory and Management Systems) • HORTNET

23. Projects Under Pipeline: • AGRISNET • AgRIS (Resources Information System) • Development of Agricultural Informatics • DACNET (phase – II) • AGMARKNET (Phase – II) • Agricultural Census 2000-2001

24. Other ICT projects of Agriculture • APHNET (Animal Production and Health Informatics Network) • ARISNET (Agricultural Research and Information System) • Water Resources Informatics System • APEDA • NPRE etc.,

25. Towards e-Government in DAC • A High Speed LAN established with more than 500 nodes (round the clock services) • INTRANET/INTERNET applications are being implemented as part of e-Government • Regular use of VC for scheme monitoring and plans (X Five Year Plan proposals were discussed on VC with all States) • 7/24 Services provided during Orissa Super cyclone, Gujarat Earth Quake, drought mitigation • Implementations of Minimum Agenda of e-governance

26. Towards e-Government in DAC (Contd.) • In-house Training Centre established • More than 800 officials trained in DAC • NICNET based Public Information and facilitation Centre established • Information Kiosk • Various paid projects implemented like Integrated Crops MIS, LAN etc. • ISDA Conference conducted for IT assessment in Agriculture sector • IT Plan submitted for IXth and Xth Five plans

28. Portals developed • AGMARKNET • DACNET • CIB/RC (PPIN) • VISTARNET* • Agricultural Census* * Under development

29. DACNET A Scheme for bringing E-Governancein the Directorates and  Field Units of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) With a Mandate to • Establish Functional Hardware/software tools • Provide training • Develop Application Software • Assist in further system enhancement, if required • Establish LAN / Network / Internet Service  

30. Information Flow from Field Units (DACNET) Planners / Decision makers Directorates databases Census Marketing Mach. Coop. Crops Exten. Fert Credit PPQ NDM Hort PP RFS IC&Trade Plan-Co TMOP SWC Field Offices Central Databases

32. AGRISNET envisages • AGRISNET – A NICNETBased Agricultural Informatics & Communication to facilitate Higher Sustainable Agricultural productivity and Establish “Indian Agriculture on-line” in the Country • Convergence of Core Technologies and e-Governance

33. AGRISNET envisages • IT Infrastructure (H/W, S/W tools and Networking) • Information Networks (Web sites, portals, Vertical portals) • Data Warehousing (Database, Data Mining and Mata Data) • Web enabled applications • GIS/RS based applications • IT Empowerment (HRD)

34. AGRISNET components • Internet/Intranet services • E-Commerce & EDI Services • National & International Video Conferencing • Networking (LAN, MAN, WAN) using terrestrial, Satellite, & Wireless Communication

35. AGRISNET components • IT Training • Data Base, Knowledge Base, and Analytical Model Base development for Decision Support • Disaster management

36. Sub-networks under AGRISNET The following sub-networks will strengthen these portals: • FERTNET: Fertilizer Network • HORTNET: Horticulture Network • PPIN: Plant Protection Network • VISTERNET: Agricultural Extension Network • CROPSNET : Crops Information Network • SEEDNET: Seeds Informatics Network • ACINET: Agricultural Credit Informatics Network • AGMARKNRT:Agricultural Marketing Network • ARISNET: Agricultural Research Information System Network

37. To strengthen these sub-networks, AGRISNET nodes will be established at National, State, District, and Block level with Internet/Intranet gateway at National and regional level. • Agri-Clinic and Agri-business centres will be set up outside the Government set up to facilitate Un-employed agricultural graduates to generate income and employment through “Knowledge services” for farmers. The emerging technologies on “last mile” problems provide required technology solutions to establish Agri-clinic and Agri-business centres at sub district level

38. DACNET Attached , Subordinate, Autonomous, Field Offices State, District & Block Agricultural Offices AGRISNET Admn. Division Workgroups Mail Server INTRADAC Finance Div. Internet Server NRM Division Database Server Crops Division Data Ware housing Hort. Division “Agriculture On-line” GIS Server

39. Agricultural Resource Information(core group – V on Agriculture and Soils (NNRMS-AC-AS)). • Arid Agro-Ecosystem, Coastal Agro-Ecosystem, Hill & Mountain Agro-Ecosystem, Irrigated Agro-Ecosystem, and Rainfed Agro-Ecosystem. The pilot project demonstration, one district each with various typologies (13) using GIS/RS based Technology

40. Thank You

41. In e-Governance, “electronic” means support and stimulate good governance. E-Governance will mature according to the following four phases (Garter Report) • Information  Presence : Websites • Interaction  Intake Process:e-mail, search engines, download forms and documents • Transaction  Complete Transactions: Network and Information Security • Transformation Integration and Change: Virtual counter

42. Affordability by common man/ target customers Accessibility Width of reach Accessibility Width of reach Affordability by common man/ target customers Affordability by common man/ target customers Service related Communicability in People’s Language Communicability in People’s Language Communicability in People’s Language Availability of Information across multiple delivery channels Reliability of transactions across multiple delivery channels Availability of Information across multiple delivery channels Availability of Information across multiple delivery channels Reliability of transactions across multiple delivery channels Reliability of transactions across multiple delivery channels Service related Viability Economic and political returns Viability Economic and political returns Viability Economic and political returns Re-engineering of Processes within Government Collaboration among the servicing departments Re-engineering of Processes within Government Re-engineering of Processes within Government Collaboration among the servicing departments Collaboration among the servicing departments Implementation Related Trustworthy Adequate security and auditability Trustworthy Adequate security and auditability e-Governance Imperatives Accessibility Width of reach Creating stakeholders buy-in through internal/external communications

43. Diversification for Sustainable Agriculture • Efficient use of resources (Example, crops in command area for rational sharing of water and also types of crops as per availability of water) • Crop diversification in dark and grey areas where groundwater exploitation is high (less water requiring crop) • For sustainable land use and in areas of depleting soil fertility (Example, Rice-wheat cropping) • For efficient natural resource management

44. Population and Food grains Needs • The population as per latest census (2001-02), the estimated population is 1033.5 million • Requirement of food grains for Human consumption is 174 m t (NIN, Hyderabad) and production requirement is 195 mt Therefore, our production is expected to be higher than the requirement calculated on normative method

45. We have 26 per cent population below poverty who have poor economic access to food grains. Their low purchasing power may not permit them to purchase 182.5 kg per capita per annum. If they can purchase only 70 per cent of their requirements, this would imply availability of additional 15 mt in the market - Food Corporation has stocks of over 60 m t against the norm of about 24 m t - Average pulse production during IXth Plan is 13 mt, the requirement of pulses is about 15 mt - Rate of growth of consumption of Rice and Wheat is expected to decline. Therefore, the answer to first question is in affirmative. Then we need to diversify our agriculture