The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report on climate change and global warming recently. According to the report, the planet’s average temperature has risen to the edge of irreversible changes. If the temperature increases by more than 20 degrees celsius, the global food production potential will fall drastically. Such declination will be seen primarily in lower-latitude regions like Africa, Latin America and Asia. If adequate measures are not taken, then the yield may decline by 20 to 40 per cent. Additionally, extreme weather situations are becoming frequent, resulting in crop and livestock losses. New technology in agriculture is needed to address these issues.
Agtech is dominating the agriculture sector, but some farms have been in the same state for years, and no changes adopted that will satisfy from a technical perspective. It leaves farms unprepared for the technological makeover. Farmers need to adopt affordable tools like digital-agri-platforms to analyse data. Among several challenges in developing new technology in agriculture, land limitations, high prices, lack of education & qualification, and telecommunication infrastructure issues are primary issues.
Land limitation: The agricultural land is limited, but it is getting divided into smaller lands with increasing population. Youth trying to enter the farming industry either do not own the land or could not get a loan to make substantial progress. In such cases, farmers ready to invest in agtech and improve their fields have very few probabilities.
Higher cost of Existing Agtech: To implement a technological approach, farmers need to develop set up, buy equipment and implement various modern techniques. Existing agtech is expensive, and a majority of farmers can not afford it. New technology in agriculture needs to be developed by keeping farmers needs and demands on priority like suitability, effectivity, efficiency, affordability and performance.
Lack of education: About 40 per cent of the world population works in the agriculture and food sector. IPCC reports include two-thirds of all people in developing and underdeveloped nations having their limitations. One of the significant challenges in developing new technology in agriculture is the lack of education and qualification of people involved in the agri-food sector. Even though agtech is made available, they are not capable of implementing and operating these technologies. Moreover, most farm managers are old, making them less adaptable to extreme changes in farming practices.
Lack of Telecommunication infrastructure: The internet connection plays a crucial role in implementing new technology in agriculture. Even today, rural and remote areas lack high-speed internet connections. It is a global issue that needs to be resolved while considering the deployment of agtech.