It Does More. It Costs Less. It’s That Simple.

Introduction

In India, agriculture is the primary source of livelihood. Nearly 60% of India’s population depends on agriculture as their sole source of income. At present, India takes the second position in agricultural production in the world. It also contributes a major share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Challenges of Indian agriculture include, Subsistence Agriculture, Pressure of Population on Agriculture, Dependency upon Monsoon, Seasonal Patterns. Others include Poor Mechanization of Farming, Soil Analysis and Soil Exhaustion, Pest and Diseases, Costly Farm Inputs, Poor Marketing strategies. 

Nowadays technology has become a critical piece of business for every farmer, agronomist and agri retailer. As you all know, farming is highly land and labor intensive.  Farmers use technology to manage inputs, costs and to increase efficiency. The evolution in modern agriculture and digital technology have caused new concepts to come out. They include precision agriculture or farming, digital agriculture and smart farming. These terms are often being used interchangeably but they complement each other towards agricultural growth. They make farming more precise, optimized, and controlled when it comes to the growing of crops and raising of livestock. Digital agriculture unites both concepts of precision farming and smart farming. It is viewed as the future of the agricultural industry. Focus on increasing farm production, save costs in the long-term, and to overcome risks. 

Soil Health Management

It is the biggest challenge in the current days. Soil is the key factor which decides the entire crop growth and development. There are many advanced breeding, biotechnology and crop improvement strategies available. But soil remains in the top position contributing to crop healthiness and  maximum crop yields. Soil health improvement has become the most important target nowadays. Many government institutions, NGO’s and celebrities are actively involved in creating awareness. They are coming up with new concepts like “Save Soil” to create awareness about soil health and its deterioration. The issue of Soil Health Cards to every farmer in the nation, not only benefited the farmers but also the environment. The aim of this scheme is to advise farmers about the fertilizer recommendation depending upon the crop and soil type. To enable farmers to realize higher crop yields at lower cost.

Soil Testing

It is the ideal solution to improve the soil health analysis and to correct nutrient deficiencies of the crop. There is always a false notion among the farming community that adding more fertilizers would increase crop yield. But indiscriminate use of fertilizers is not always the solution. Excessive use of fertilizers results in salinity, alkalinity due to change in pH, deteriorates soil health and makes it barren. It leads to high cost of production, yield loss and damage to the environment. Thus, each fertilizer recommendation should be based on soil sampling and soil analysis. And also on research on crop response to fertilizer application, farming practices and management decisions. To involve agronomic research and its practical application, one should target soil testing. This is to evaluate soil fertility and to provide consequent fertilizer recommendations.  

Satyukt Analytics  and its Role in Agriculture

Through agricultural remote sensing and with the help of multi-spectral remote sensing data explored the soil nutrient content estimation. Can be done using optical remote sensing data (Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2), terrain/climate data (precipitation, radiation) and ground truth value. Five nutrients: N, K, P, pH and OC can be estimated across India. This way there is a potential to generate a high resolution soil nutrients map for every farm in the country. It is irrespective of their size from as small as one acre to as big as multiple hectares. 

Advantages of Remote Sensing based on Soil Analysis

1. It is possible to quantify the heterogeneity of the soil within the farm. Which provides extra valuable information which is not usually available through lab based testing. 
2. The results are received promptly, virtually instantaneously, compared to days or weeks for those made in a distant laboratory.
3. Substantially lower cost which can have the obvious benefit of lowering the cost of an entire region.
4. The cumbersome and time-consuming process of soil sample testing for every farm will be done with Sat2Farm easily. It will be readily available with the farmer himself for reference.
5. The report is available at every guntha level or 100 sq. m. Which allows the farmer to precisely understand the land nutrient requirement and plan his fertilizer application
6. The remarks provided with the report will better equip the farmers and give the best picture imaginable for his farm

This will help in determining the extent of crop nutrient deficiency in different pockets of the farm. Come up with remedies that would benefit the nutrient uptake in crops, hence increasing the overall crop yield. 

Conclusion

Through the Sat2Farm mobile application, visualization of a farm in terms of available nutrient content is possible. Which is a great leap forward for the majority of small and marginal farmers in adopting smart and precise agriculture. This also aligns the nation’s interest in developing and making precision agriculture accessible and affordable to every farm holder. 

For more information, reach out to us at sales@satyukt.com  or +91 8749094434