Finding the Real Problem
Even as we face macro challenges like urbanization and climate change, which we cannot directly control, a stark reality stands out. That of post-harvest losses. According to the World Food Program, nearly one-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted and over half of that food waste happens during production, post-harvest handling, and storage. It all starts with the farmer. Is there a way to empower the farmer to take better decisions everyday - right from planting to water management and harvest planning -- and in turn empower the entire ecosystem to reduce post-harvest losses? Turns out, there is!
Solution
Infosys created a platform that helps stakeholders across the ecosystem make better, more informed decisions. Infosys Digital Agriculture Solution was born out of an idea to put more food on our tables! IDEAS, as we call it, is a framework that triggers timely interventions that address challenges of stakeholders across the agricultural value chain. The solution integrates domain expertise, market intelligence, Internet of Things and big data analytics to enable insights and speed decision-making for individual farmers as well as agricultural enterprises of various sizes.
IDEAS offers sensor integration for real-time data, weather data integration, sensor triggered irrigation systems, and drones with imaging capabilities for real-time data gathering. The algorithm then processes all this data, couples it with domain competencies, and provides insights on:
- Crop and variety recommendation
- Crop nutrient recommendation
- Real-time remote irrigation management
- Identification of crop stress and recommendations
- Insights for field representatives
- Sustainability assessment
- Warehouse management
The Outcomes
- Increased profitability from selection of the most suitable crop variety for the given area and tuning the process for greater efficiency.
- Reduced costs of cultivation from personalization of fertilizer recommendations with a combination of low cost fertilizers and optimized application schedule.
- Optimization of crop water usage thereby growing more with less. Remote operations to save time and efforts.
- Reduced yield loss from timely intervention to resolve crop stress, recommendation of most suitable chemicals, and optimization of chemical usage.
- Effective control of post-harvest losses during storage thereby reducing financial losses for procurement companies.