E Agriculture Development by Information

AWERProcedia Information

Technology & Computer Science

Vol 03 (2013) 1330-1334

3

rd

World Conference on Information Technology (WCIT-2012)

E-Agriculture Development by Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) Application

Behzad Sani *, Department of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Tehran, Iran. Suggested Citation:

Sani, B. E-Agriculture Development by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Application, AWERProcedia Information Technology & Computer Science. [Online]. 2013, 3, pp 1330-1334. Available from: http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/P-ITCS Proceedings of 3rd World Conference on Information Technology (WCIT-2012), 14-16 November 2012, University of Barcelon, Barcelona, Spain.

Received 19 February, 2013; revised 18 July, 2013; accepted 09 September, 2013. Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hafize Keser.

© Academic World Education & Research Center. All rights reserved. Abstract

E-Agriculture is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. Information of the required quality always has the potential of improving efficiency in all spheres of agriculture. Information Technology (IT) has long been viewed as having great potential for improving decision making in agriculture. IT has connected the world globally and is now changing our life style and social consciousness dynamically. The role of information technology to develop agricultural research, education and extension to improve quality of life in rural area is well established.

Keywords: E-Agriculture, information and communication technology (ICT), sustainable agriculture;

1.Introduction

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agriculture is increasingly important. E-Agriculture is a relatively new term and we fully expect its scope to change and evolve as our understanding of the area grows. E-Agriculture is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society," published on 18 November 2005, emphasizes the leading facilitating roles that UN agencies need to play in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been assigned the responsibility of organizing activities related to the action line under C.7 ICT Applications on E-Agriculture [4].

Figure 1. Major problems of human world 2. Role of IT in Agriculture

In the context of agriculture, the potential of information technology (IT) can be assessed broadly under two heads: (a) as a tool for direct contribution to agricultural productivity and (b) as an indirect tool for empowering farmers to take informed and quality decisions which will have positive impact on the way agriculture and allied activities are conducted. Precision farming, popular in developed countries, extensively uses IT to make direct contribution to agricultural productivity. The techniques of remote sensing using satellite technologies, geographical information systems, and agronomy and soil sciences are used to increase the agricultural output. This approach is capital intensive and useful where large tracts of land are involved. Consequently it is more suitable for farming taken up on corporate lines. The indirect benefits of IT in empowering Indian farmer are significant and remain to be exploited. The Indian farmer urgently requires timely and reliable sources of information inputs for taking decisions. At present, the farmer depends on trickling down of decision inputs from conventional sources which are slow and unreliable. The changing environment faced by Indian farmers makes information not merely useful, but necessary to remain competitive. Information Technology is rapidly becoming more and more visible in society and agriculture. IT refers to how we use information, how we compute information, and how we communicate information to people. People must have computer and information technology. To participate and make informed decisions in the agricultural industry a person must have ability to gather, process, and manipulate data [5].

3. IT in Agriculture Education Management

million. Today with over 3, 00,000 teachers, the Indian higher education system is the second largest in the world. Considering this scenario of agricultural education the enrolment of students in agriculture remained only 1.5% in agriculture and allied fields. However the percentage of students studying for professional degrees is extremely low. In Japan more than 30% students are studying for engineering degrees, whereas in India, it is hardly 5%. Everyday where one college is being opened in India, only 6 % of Indian population in the age groups of 18 to 23 years is getting the benefit of higher education. With this background in view, we can be able to understand, how difficult it is to face the challenges of higher education in 21st century which is being dominated by the Information Technology. This clearly indicates that all out efforts need to be made in higher education especially in the field of science and technology to harness the youth potential of rural India [3].

Figure 2. Agricultural knowledge and information systems for rural development [2] 4. Application of GPS

In agriculture, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are used for geo-fencing, map-making and surveying. GPS receivers dropped in price over the years, making it more popular for civilian use. With the use of GPS, civilians can produce simple yet highly accurate digitized map without the help of a professional cartographer. In Kenya, a huge elephant bull wanders into farms and destroys precious crops. Their solution was to tag the elephant with a device that sends a text message when it crosses a geo-fence. Using the technology of SMS and GPS, the elephant can roam freely and the authorities are alerted whenever it is near the farm [8].

5. Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture

and mutual communication. Second, we should not forget the possible contribution of information science to effective and stable production by several models such as crop growth prediction and decision support. Thus, the importance of the studies on agroinformatics is undoubtedly increasing. The Asian countries are keeping the highest growth rate in the world and the requirement on food is abruptly changing from quantity to quality. In addition, the Asian countries have their individual agricultural features that are not common in the USA or EU countries. The rice-dependency and the farming scale are the typical examples. In this conference, sharing such common features, researchers, engineers, administrators and farmers who are interested in the informatization of the Asian and world agriculture, will join together, exchange information and discuss about agroinformatics which will help us e to find some key points to solve the world-wide food problems [1].

6. Agricultural Challenges

In this section we outline five challenges associated with agriculture that must be overcome to achieve the desired increases in productivity: inherent heterogeneity; unanticipated disturbances; large geospatial dispersion; security and safety requirements; and constraints. By its very nature, agriculture works with biological systems that are inherently heterogeneous in composition and processes. Fields can vary in soil type and moisture content down to a resolution of a square meter. Weather patterns can vary spatially and temporally in terms of sunlight and rain. Raw materials themselves have basic genetic variations from plant to plant and animal to animal. Indeed, genetic variation is often biologically useful for increasing resistance to diseases and pests. But compare this

heteroge eity with the ho oge eity of other i dustrial pro esses, su h as He ry Ford’s asse ly li e,

and the challenges associated with maximizing product yield using a minimum of resources become apparent. Agricultural processes are much more vulnerable to unanticipated disturbances than many other industrial processes. The weather can cause floods or bring hail storms that can devastate crops. Pest or disease infestations can rapidly affect, if not wipe out, large quantities of raw material. When we contrast this environment to the carefully controlled (temperature, humidity, etc.) clean-room environment of the semiconductor fabrication industry, we immediately understand that, because of external forces, the levels of precision in crop or herd yield are far lower than in other industries [9].

7. Why Information Technology in Agriculture

Figure 3. Components of eSagu system [7] Figure 4. Depiction of eSagu operation [7]

References

[1] AFITA. Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, [Online] 1998. Available from:

http://www.afita.org/ .

[2] AKIS/RD. Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems for Rural Development (AKIS/RD). Sustainable Development Department (SD), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2000. [3] Chauhan, N. B. Information Technology for Agricultural Development in India, [Online] 2010. Available from:

http://agropedia.iitk.ac.in

[4] E-agriculture. A Global Community of Practice, Where People from all over the World Exchange Information, Ideas, and Resources related to the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, [Online] 2012. Available from: http://www.e-agriculture.org.

[5] Mittal, S. C. Role of Information Technology in Agriculture and Its Scope in India. Fertilizer News, 2001, 46 (12), pp. 83-87.

[6] Morarka, G. D. C. Why Information Technology in Agriculture, [Online] Rural Research Foundation, Rajasthan India, 2008. Available from: http://www.morarkango.com

[7] Ratnam, B. V., Krishna Reddy, P., & Reddy, G. S. eSagu: An IT based Personalized Agricultural Extension System Prototype – Analysis of 51 Farmers' Case Studies. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 2006, 2 (1), pp. 79-94.

[8] Roberson, G. T. GPS Applications in Agriculture. Precision Agriculture. Biological and Agricultural Engineering. NC State University, 2012.