International Journal of Applied Engineering Research.

ISSN 0973-4562, Volume 9, Number 10 (2014) pp. 1193-1198

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Role of Information Technology in Indian Agriculture

Amit Mathur1 and Megha Goyal2
1

Research Scholar, Department of commerce and management,

University of Kota, Kota, Rajasthan, India
2
Research Scholar, Department of commerce and management,
University of Kota, Kota, Rajasthan, India
E-mail: 1amitmathur65@gmail.com, 2meghagoyal188@gmail.com,

Abstract
Agriculture is the one of the most important sector in India and also it
is a pillar of Indian economy. Now it demands second green revolution
and it is possible only through the transfer of technologies from lab to
land. The generation and application of agricultural knowledge is
progressively important, particularly for small and marginal farmers,
who require relevant information in order to improve, sustain, and
diversify their farm enterprises. Information technology support new
methods and ideas for precision and healthy agriculture like
computerized farm, weather forecasting, use of pesticides, fertilizers,
and kind of crops. In this paper we will try to find how information
technology is useful for decision making, improve planning and better
produce of agro products and study the key elements and basic issues
of information technology in farm practice.
Keywords: Agriculture, Information technology, ICTs projects,
Farmers, Precision farming.

1. Introduction
The agriculture plays a predominant role in many developing countries. India is an
agriculture staple country. Approx 2/3 populations of India depend on agriculture
sector. The population of India has already been crossed 120 crore and is still
increasing and that put a high pressure on the food grain production of India. The
average growth rate of food grains production from 1950 to 2011 was 3.2% per
annum. Agriculture sector has been always backbone of Indian economy. Today, India

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Amit Mathur & Megha Goyal

ranks second farm output country among in world. Agriculture and allied sectors like
forestry, fishing and logging accounted for approx 17% of the GDP in 2012, employed
approx 51% of the total labor or workforce. In 2008, a New York Times article was
wrote, through the right policies and technology, India could contribute to feeding not
just itself but the world.
Overall, wheat was the very good perform and its production increasing from
approx 6.6 mt in 1950-51 to 90 mt during 2011-12, a huge jump. Wheat was followed
by rice, which had a production increase from 20 mt to 102 mt at present. Still a big
population is hunger in India.
Table 1: Indias food grain (rice, wheat, coarse grains and pulses) production trend
Year
1950-1951
1960-1961
1970-1971
1980-1981
1990-1991
2000-2001
2011-2012

Food production (M.T.)

50.8
82
108.4
129.6
176.4
196.8
257

Source: Ministry of agriculture, India

Information technology can be defined as the science or practice of collecting,

storing, using and sending out information, closely relevant to computer and
telecommunications [6]. The Information Technologies can generate new opening to
bridge the gap between information haves and information have-nots in the developing
countries. In agriculturally based developing countries like India cannot ignore
agriculture in such transformation. Information technology refers to how we use
information, compute and communicate information to the people [6]. In short
information technology is helpful to communicate the knowledge. The use of
information and communications technology (ICT) in agriculture is increasingly
growing. Information technology has long viewed as potential tool for improving
decision making in agriculture. Various categories of users require information to carry
out their activities effectively. The role of information technology is users need with
the right information, in right form, in right time. The generation and application of
agricultural knowledge is progressively important, particularly for small and marginal
farmers, who require relevant information in order to improve, sustain, and diversify
their farm enterprises.

2. Review of Literature
Indian Government is being made a remarkable achievements especially in the area of
agriculture by giving various facilities to the farmers in which the ICT services is one

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among which is helping the farmers to understand the modern cultivation methods,
availability of agriculture inputs, irrigational sources, availability of pesticide and
fertilizers for increasing the production and productivity of crops. India is a developing
economic country where agriculture forms the backbone of Indian economy. Despite
concentration of industrialization, agriculture remains in a place of pride [1].The
framework for an IT based agricultural information dissemination system is proposed
by exploiting progress in IT. AgrIDS aims to provide fresh and expert agriculture
advice to needy farmers in a timely and personalized manner to improve crop
productivity. This system aims to increase productivity and reducing cost of
production [2]. An important activity of public institutions in agriculture is to ensure
that content provided by ICT projects is of a certified quality. Quality assurance and
accuracy of digital content will require greater attention as ICT platforms expand, and
a structured and coordinated approach would be necessary [3].
Sustainable economic growth in the rural India can be achieved through public
private partnership. The multi service public private kiosks will be the engine of
growth in the rural markets and ICT infrastructure is the backbone of this engine [4].
Small and marginal farmers are using ICT services, more emphasis should be given to
providing information relevant to their farming systems. Strong interfaces should be
developed at village level so that the problem of computer illiteracy among farmers
may be resolved. User-friendly software, graphic interfaces and pictorial information
would encourage more IT use [5].

3. Research Methodology
The paper is basically conceptual and descriptive, the data which has been used for the
analysis, has been gathered from various secondary sources like research articles,
published and unpublished scholarly papers, books, journals, speeches, newspapers,
annual reports, databases available on various websites. The analysis of the data has
been done according to its nature.
Objectives of Study
i. To study role of information technology in agriculture sector.
ii. To know how farmers or users get benefit from Information technology.
iii. To know how information technology is support farmers to make decision.

4. Role of Information Technology in Agriculture

Information technology is utilizing computers along with the telecommunication
equipment for the retrieval, storage, transmission and manipulation of data, which are
aimed to improve the efficiency of different sectors especially in agriculture sector. It
can be used as a tool for improving efficiency and overall productivity. Agriculture is a
major sector which is important for new generation. The produce from agriculture
derives trade from one country to another, brings income for farmers, make productive

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Amit Mathur & Megha Goyal

use and food on our table. By adapting and making use of information technology to
help improve agriculture process. That everyone get benefits from this sector.
Farmers can require substantial knowledge and information about improved
farming practices, pricing strategy, market betterment, new policy regarding
agriculture technology etc. and transfer it to and among farmers. IT can directly
support farmersaccess to timely and relevant information, as well as empower the
creation and sharing of knowledge of the farming community itself. When farmers will
be able to get information about price, stock, supply and available market for their
product, he would sell their products at the right price at the right time without much
care. Government and various Agro based companies can provide various services
through mobile technology by which farmers can access the information about price,
stock and market practices. It will help them to reduce the risk of under-selling and of
either over or under-supplying or low price their crops in a given market.
Information transmitted also includes access to early warning systems to mitigate
the risk of losses due to extreme weather conditions or to the spread of disease.
Precision farming, popular in developed countries, broadly uses Information
technology to make direct contribution to agricultural productivity. The techniques
using satellite technologies, soil sciences, agronomy, and geographical information
systems are used to increase the agricultural out-turn. This approach is intensive and
useful where large tracts of land are involved. It is more suitable for farming taken up
on corporate lines. The second or indirect benefit of IT in empowering Indian farmer is
significant and remains to be exploited. Farmer urgently requires timely and reliable
sources of information inputs for taking decisions. In current, the farmer depends on
obtain of decision inputs from conventional sources which are slow and unreliable.
The changing environment faced by farmers makes information not merely useful, but
necessary to keep ch allenging and competitive.

5. Need of Information Technology for Farmers

Farmers need of information on generated technology from the research system to
apply them for agriculture production. This technology may include harvesting time,
optimal planting, right method of diseases control, storage and processing methods,
soil control methods, storage and processing methods and many more. Farmers also
take decision about what and where to sell their farming products. Information not
only help farmers to make beneficial decision in short period, it is also help to decide
what will be produce.

6. Equipment of ICTs which are used in AgricultureICTs (information communication technology) includes any communication device or
application as radio, computer, television, network hardware, cellular phones,
software, and satellite systems etc., as well as the various services and applications
associated with them, such as distance learning and video conferencing. It is an
integration of the technologies and the processes to distribute and communicate the

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1197

desired information to the target audience and making the target audience more
participative in nature.

7. Benefits of Information Technology in Agriculture sector

Now days, Information technology is playing a vital role in agriculture sector. Farmers,
researchers and users get many benefits from this. Some benefits are following
1. Improve in decision makingInformation technology is very useful for
farmers, researchers and other person to take any decision regarding future.
From having necessary information any farmers can make decision concerning
their agricultural activities as what should be growing and where should be
selling. From the exchange of knowledge from various areas and various
territory farmers be more conscious before decision making.
2. Agriculture breakthrough-Scientists are developing new and improve grains
or techniques to help winter crops become strong against the cold. Framers of
all worlds may benefits from the same breakthrough simply by being connected
from the agriculture world. Sharing of this information helps everyone to
progress much easier through resources made available by information
technology.
3. Suitable planning-Information technology has provided farming software
which can keep better track of agriculture and predict yields. By using of
modern farming technology and methodology, farmers can better control on
their crops.
4. Prediction of weatherInformation technology is also very help to make
prediction about weather. Through satellites and other technology farmers get
the knowledge about future weather condition, it will be starvation, dry,
hailstorm, rainfall and other natural conditions.
5. Better selling opportunity-Information technology also provide the
knowledge about what and where is suitable market for better opportunity of
selling product on fair value.

8. ICTs Projects in India

ICTs help and guide the poor farmers properly at minimal cost at the right time by
providing upgraded relevant information about their farm and farm jobs.

Source: Author (Amit Mathur & Megha Goyal)

Chart 1: ICTs projects in India

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Amit Mathur & Megha Goyal

There are many models of ICTs in Indian agriculture. In Indian agriculture, we

discussed ICTs project are divided in four categories. some are in below chart.

9. Conclusion
In above study researchers get the knowledge about the role of information technology
in agriculture. Many information communication technology help and support farmers
and other users for increase productivity and cost efficient. Indian Government is also
focusing on the policies and tools for the betterment of the agricultural sector, and
farmers. Information technology is a key to make better decision making for farmers.
The concept of Information technology in India is still in initial stage, but gradually the
scenario will change. Various ICTs initiatives as Kisan call center, Gyandoot, e-chopal
etc. should be promoted at large scale to improve the adoptability new technology by
farmers. The nation is striving to find ways and means to keep its increasing
population adequately fed. It is facing the problem of low productivity and also facing
challenges posed by liberalization. Information Technology has a great potential to
overcome agriculture related problems.It can be a phenomenal achievement in Indian
agriculture if it would be developed and structured according to the need and capability
of farmers

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