The need for Decision Support Systems in the Indian Agricultural System
Modern agriculture relies on irrigation for higher productivity and yields. With diminishing water resources and heavy demand of water from both industrial and urban sectors water consumption for agricultural use is under tremendous challenge.
India accounts for about 17% of the world’s population but only 4% of the world fresh water resources. Distribution of these water resources across the vast expanse of the country is also uneven. The improper or non - scientific usage of water has led to severe scarcity of water and too much dependencies towards single crop, example rice or wheat. The food we consume require 500 times as much as water we need to drink every day. 70% of all the water that is pulled from underground or from rivers is used for irrigation, 20% for industrial purpose and 10% for domestic use. These demands on water resources by India’s burgeoning population, depletion of aquifers, diminishing quality of existing water resources because of population, additional requirements of serving India’s spiralling industrial and agricultural growth have led to a situation where the consumption of water is rapidly increasing while the supply of fresh water remains more or less constant.
As a value driver, there is tremendous opportunity for incorporating technology for operational excellence to improve water resource management and develop decision support systems(DSS). The need of the hour is automation and capability building tools which will enable efficient water resource management at the same time improving farm productivity. Modern integrated irrigation systems using scientific data based software system and well synchronized hardware tools are available from few global players. Most of their solutions are based on global data with limited customization for local requirement.
The objective at GramworkX is to develop a system based on India specific scientifically validated agronomic data which captures all important irrigation variables and well synchronized with local hardware tools needed for our farms in a cost-effective manner. This integrated irrigation system should enable farmers to conserve valuable water resource, irrigate crops in an optimal manner and increase farm productivity in a significant manner. This system also aims to achieve twin objective of Government of India of “ Make in India’ and “ Doubling farmers Income”
We at GramworkX are looking to change the landscape of agriculture and its allied business.
With increasing demands in agricultural produce and vagaries of nature the confluence of agriculture and technology is inevitable. We want to be a part of this journey and make a change! At GramworkX we are building smart products at an affordable cost to the farmers for a sustainable future. We believe in incorporating analytics, automation, product and process innovation for better resource utilisation and help increase the productivity
