ISLAMABAD, September 25, 2023 (Online): “Precision Agriculture is the one-window solution to declining agricultural productivity, exacerbating food insecurity and can aid in developing resilience to recurrent climate disasters” remarked Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI. He was speaking at a Industry Consultation event “National Precision Agriculture Blueprint Study: Needs Assessment and Adoptability Pathways” jointly organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute and NASTAP here today.
He added that the rising population is exerting profound pressure on the country’s natural resources and the mounting per capita burden on agricultural land can be addressed by embarking on the contemporary digital revolution. This digital revolution has modified the workflow expanding it from data analysis to increasing efficiency in resource consumption like water and aid decision making by digitalizing the management of the entire process. “Pakistan is already a water scarce country and the digitalization of inputs like water allows efficient application and quality management as well as greenhouse gas automation to reduce the footprint of the sector”, he added. He urged for the synchronization of the four pillars of agriculture i.e., academia, industry, private sector, and development partners.
The reformation of academic curricula and developing specialized courses in consultation with industry and private sector, eradicating the bureaucratic delays in project development and implementation and reappropriation of agricultural subsidies to climate smart subsidies can mobilize financial resources needed. Furter addressing the financing gap, he said that Special Investment Financial Council will promote corporate farming based on digitalization of agriculture to transform low-productivity lands but will also increase access to financial and technological services to small farmers by strengthening the entire ecosystem
Dr Tauseef Ur Rehman, Project Director, GreenAI, highlighted that adoption of precision agriculture holds immense potential for Pakistan. However, challenges like import NOCs, operationalization of drones not legalized, and flight security risks hinder the promotion in Pakistan.
Elucidating the blueprint study developed in consultation with SDPI, he informed that Agriverse National Precision Agriculture cloud has been designed to offer data archiving and dissemination cloud technology for Precision Agriculture. The technology also offers complete authorization, controlled, and monitored use of drones, UAS Airspace monitoring, flight plan authorization, private sector can assist in developing complete lifecycle management, he said. However, developing the skills of human resources to efficiently apply these modern technologies is critical.
Dr. Gabor MILICS, Founding President of the Hungarian Society of Precision Agriculture, highlighted digital illiteracy in agriculture as a major obstacle in adoption of precision agriculture and supporting increased access to technology with training and awareness for efficient usage. He highlighted those agricultural input prices increasing by threefold in Hungary left a profound mark on the productivity, with farmers opting out of investing to avoid losses. He stressed that Green AI could mitigate such shocks by leveraging data analytics for moderating input requirements.
Dr Shoaib Saleem, Assistant Professor, Department of Farm Machinery and Precision, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, stressed that the window of opportunity for developing and promoting technologies for climate resilient, smart agricultural technologies is narrowing. He urged that political will is crucial to overcome the legislative and bureaucratic hurdles slowing down the adoption of precision agriculture in Pakistan.
Xiang Yang, Director, Chinese Study Center, NUST highlighted that China has leveraged precision agriculture for poverty eradication in China and offers other countries like Pakistan and Hungary with tested best practices and models that can be replicated for similar results. She further said that Pakistan must bank on the strong diplomatic ties with China and utilize the potential of youth to develop precision agriculture landscape.
Fuad I. Khan, Chief Strategy Officer, Bakhabar Kissan, stressed that Green AI must cater to the credit need and weather index insurance for the small farmers who are overlooked in fintech services to expedite the adoption of precision agriculture technologies.
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