Agriculture in India- a business perspective(part 2)

Note: If you have not read the first part, go to this link: agriculture in India- a business perspective part 1

     Due to some reasons, this post is delayed. Thanks for the huge response for my older posts. Now onward, I will timely write the posts.

agriculture in India

Introduction:

      In the last post, we studied that overall statistics of farming and other nations, how agriculture can be a better option than other businesses and some basic fixes for the traditional agriculture. in this post, we will study various limitations for traditional agriculture and solution for those limitations and modern way of farming.

Current agricultural problems:

     1) Variability of electricity in rural areas:

     
As we know, load-shading is the major problem for the failure of any crop. Rural area has electricity support for 8-12 hrs daily. Also, in these 8-12 hrs duration, voltage is not sufficient to run motors. So most of the time, there is untimely water supply to the crops. This severely affects the yield of the crop. Also, a sudden change in voltages results into the burning of motor, starter, wire etc. If motor gets burned, then it will take at least 2-3 days to get repaired.

  The solution for this problem is solar power pumps. As solar operated pumps have constant voltage supply, there is no issue of low voltage and burning of a motor. You can easily follow the schedule of watering. It is evident that timely supply of water increases the yield. Adequate water supply The maintenance of solar pump is almost zero excluding checking for choking off the motor by any means.

Solar water pumps

  Though the prices for this kind of pumps are very high; thanks to NABARD, which arranges subsidy for the pumps which has reduced the prices of this kind of pumps to half. If we take an example of the 5 HP Solar water pump which has initial price is 4,70,000₹ but; NABARD has given a subsidy of 2,70,000₹ which reduces the price of this pump to 2,00,000₹. For a normal former, this amount is very high but; the output from this pump will last for 25 years. This will easily recover the initial investments. Also, loans for these pumps are available so a farmer can buy
<!– more –> this pump. Remember, the usefulness of solar pumps can be proven only when there is more yield from per unit area. It is useful for those farmers which have greater lands. Farmers those having less land can either use a solar pump of less HP or can buy a solar pump in partnership.

     2)Labor Problem:

   Many times farmer said that they don't get labors for agricultural activities. Those farmers who don't have larger families, they basically face this problem. As this problem is general, we do not have any definite solution.

   One thing we can do is that to increase the daily wage of laborers. But this is only useful when profit from the crops will be more. If long term benefits like education for their children, health policy. incentives etc. are given to laborers, then there is a possibility that laborers can stay for longer period. But this is far advanced from the current scenario of the agricultural industry.

   Another thing one can do is that forming a group of farmers and using all those related people for farming activities. Again, it is just a concept which is very difficult to implement due to various reasons.

   So, among these three solutions, which one will work for you, can not be said.


Modern way of Farming:

     1) Soil testing:

   This is the most basic fix that one can do. Farmers always either forget or ignore the soil testing. It may be because they find it useless or difficult task to do. Soil testing will clearly give us an idea about requirement of your soil, where it is rich and where it is poor. Soil testing will also give us the data of soil constituents like calcium, phosphorous, Nitrogen, Potassium etc.  Using this data, we can plan fertilizers for the land. Also, we will get the data of minimum requirement all those constituents according to crop. Hence, we can plan type and amount of fertilizers to use for the particular crop and land. This will not just save our money, but will also reduce the chances the extra use of fertilizers. If chemical fertilizers are used in out of proportion manner, the quality of soil will affect drastically. More fertilizers in the soil make it saltier hence reducing the capacity of a soil to hold the water. Hence soil testing will also help to maintain the health of the soil.

Optimum use of fertilizer graph

   If we observe the graph, we can see that after certain amount of fertilizer is used, there is no increment in the yield. It gets saturated after some point. So the belief 'more fertilizer means more productivity' is wrong. Optimum use of fertilizers is economically viable as well as good for the soil. 

     2) Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation methods:

   As water scarcity is the prominent issue in India, water requirement per acre in India is more as compared to other nations. Also, if water is supplied in optimum proportion, the per acre yield increases sharply.

water supply affecting yield

   

   so, irrigation pattern should be designed in such way that, water will be saved as well as growth will also increase.

   Both drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation are mostly known to all farmers. Drip irrigation is mostly used for fruit crops while sprinkler irrigation is used crops which are densely sowed. Initially, sprinklers are made up of metals but nowadays they are in plastic form too hence, reducing the cost of a sprinkler. The comparison between these two are shown in subsequent images.

advantages and disadvantages of  sprinkler system

advantages and disadvantages of  drip system

   Though both irrigation system requires a high amount of initial investment; the government has subsidized it up to 45%. So, the cost of the modern irrigation system has decreased in a great manner.

     3) Farm Pond:

farm pond

  Farm ponds are very useful as they can be a good option for water storage. States like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra has started giving subsidies and machinery support to dig farm ponds. Maharashtra government has started its flagship program named as 'maghel tyala shetatale'. The government will give subsidy for digging as well as for plastic paper. If the water from the rain store in the pond, the water in it can be used for irrigation. Also, These ponds can be used for fishing. The pond is also used for cultivating the pearls. You can read more about it from this link:pearl farming

     4) Weather Forecast:

      If we get knowledge of weather in advance, we can plan the countermeasures for the ill effects of the weather. We can plan pesticides, insecticides according to the weather so that crops can be prevented from the ailment. This will help in saving the crops from changing weather.

  Information about weather can easily get from the agricultural department nearby our village or various agricultural apps provide this service free of cost. They notify us when there is change in weather.

     5) Animal husbandry:

   From ancient times, animal husbandry is a supplementary business to agriculture. But today,it can be made as the main business while agriculture can act as supplementary for it. Cattle farming, goat farming, poultry farming are the most popular businesses in these days. These businesses can give you that much money that one can not achieve from the crops. These businesses too, require proper planning and strict implementation of the plan. A business like 'goat farming' can give you one-time payment more than lakhs of rupees. 

   Animal husbandry requires labor force for tasks like arrangement of fodder, cleaning cowshed etc. Also, if animals are tied to the same place, there is a vulnerability of getting them infected with the various diseases. To get rid of this problem, we can create 'artificial grasslands' where cattle can graze freely. This will reduce labor cost, as well as the health of cattle, is maintained. In this grassland, we can also plant medicinal trees which will further improve the health of the animals.

Grasslands for cattle

Precaution to be taken for cultivating any crop

• Perform soil testing. Analyze the reports thoroughly and plan the fertilizers accordingly.
• Choose the breed of crop wisely. disease resistant and high in yield crop yield should be selected.
• Make the chart of all the activities to be performed from soil testing to selling the product. Perform all the activities within the allotted time.
• Water the crops timely. Use modern irrigation and water the crops when the temperature is low to avoid the extra use of water.
• Find the right market for the commodities where it can be sold at better price. If we take an example of vegetable 'tondali', the rate in the city Pune was 14₹/kg while in the Mumbai it was 26₹/kg. So choosing the right market is very important.
• Notice the changes in the weather carefully. Plan countermeasures according to it.
• Avoid growth of weed around the plant. It welcomes the ailment for the crops. Perform wedding frequently or use techniques like covering the soil with mulching paper or dried grass.
• Planting medicinal plants like 'Tulasi' among the crops can be helpful to reduce the pests or insects. These medicinal trees keep the air clean and fresh which is not favorable for insects.
• Try to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as much as possible. Instead of that use organic manure and organic pesticides, insecticides etc.
• Properly plan the supplementary businesses for the agriculture to continue the flow of money in the hands.

At the end of this post...

   In this post, I have covered some problems and solutions to them as well as some topics about modern farming briefly. We also discuss precautions to be taken before cultivating any crop. I have not gone into details as we already known to these concepts. My focus was on the ideas and suggestions for the current scenario. In next post, I will write broadly about selling the agricultural product which is the most important part, I think. Also, I will write about agricultural consultancy services on greater scale.