ICT in Agriculture: Creating SMART Farmers

Agriculture is the backbone of any country and India is blessed to have agriculture as the main occupation of a large population. The varied geographical terrain of India provides an opportunity for year long production of crops. With the onset of technical revolution in all the areas of life, all over the world, agriculture is not untouched. The developments in ICT has revolutionized agricultural operations many folds. Be it the meteorological information, soil health, seed health, fertilizer application or even the insect attack on the crops, all are being regulated by the ICT applications in one form or other. Our today’s farmer is well informed about the use of new technologies in agriculture and is very efficiently utilizing the information in an intelligent way. All these are irrespective of the region, season, crop, place or the location. The use of Information Technology has made our farmers SMART, i.e., they are Self Monitoring, Analyzing and Reporting through the use of adequate Technology. The use of proper IT tools has given both the scientists and farmers a suitable platform to interact more frequently and on time. The scientists are using ICT tools to reach the farmers on their fields and our farmers has brought their knowledge to the labs for further growth and development in the field of agriculture. The present paper is a review on the current ICT applications which is making our farmers SMARTER and self reliant. There are many initiatives of government and private organizations to bring our farmers closer to the technologies developed for their benefit. The current paper is an attempt to visualize the efforts made by scientists and technologists in the field of information and Technology for the benefit of farmers and towards the end it conceptualizes the application of ICT and its use by our farmers.