How 5G will change the future of farming

India is the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's major food staples. Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and has registered impressive growth over the last few decades.

Especially in the Indian context, agriculture and health are the crucial sectors. The real impact of 5G on the common man will be by digitally transforming agriculture and health sectors. 5G technology will disrupt the agriculture sector benefiting the masses. Although 60 per cent of the workforce in our country is engaged in agriculture, the contribution of agriculture in GDP is only 18 per cent. Few of the inefficiencies of the present agriculture system can be resolved through technology.

The 5G will revolutionise the agriculture sector by realising precision agriculture, achieving best cost realisation, optimising utilisation of crop and livestock resources, smart management and ensuring best price for the end users. 5G enabled drones can be deployed for remote sensing of farms and spraying fertilizers/ pesticides/insecticides.

Network Programme on Precision Agriculture (NePPA)

ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) has launched this ambitious network programme on precision agriculture encompassing crop health, soil health, post harvesting management, fisheries and livestock. One of the objectives of this programme is developing Variable Rate Technologies (VRTs) for site specific input management.

VRT

VRT is a tool that allows farmers to apply fertilizer, water, pesticides and seed at different rates across the field. In this technology, 5G powered sensors measure soil properties or crop characteristics in real time. The control system then calculates the quantity of inputs that are required. The advantages of using this technology are increasing production, conserving the environment and reducing costs.

Precision agriculture is a strategy for enhancing productivity. This strategy increases accuracy, precision and throughput at all levels with reduced cost and labour through automation, remote sensing, data analytics and utilising disruptive innovations like 5G. The goals are profitability, safeguarding the environment and sustainability. The application of 5G in agriculture is utilisation of 5G powered modular IOT (Internet of Things) gateways that can monitor climate, vehicles used in agriculture, livestock, soil moisture, plant health, pest control and water supply control etc.

With the help of 5G enabled IOT devices, data from numerous sources is collected, updated frequently and sent to the cloud in real time. In the cloud, data is analysed using AI/ ML algorithms to present actionable insights to the farmers. The sources may be soil moisture, weather, seed genetics, crop condition, plant health, historical yields, soil pH level, crop prices collected from the market etc.

The actionable insights can be

• What crop to plant?

• What type of seed to plant? When to plant?

• What type of fertilizer is suitable? How much fertilizer to apply and when?

• What pests are infesting the field? What crop protection products to apply and how much?

• Is the field receiving enough water? When should the field be irrigated and how much?

• When to harvest?

• When to sell crops? Whom to sell crops?

The various 5G use cases in farming and agriculture:

• Smart farming: Smart farming, powered with 5 G enabled IOT devices, will ensure enhanced crop production.

• Drones: Remote sensing of drones bridges the gaps in both satellite and ground remote sensing. 5G enabled drones, equipped with multispectral sensors, can be used to analyse the nutrient status of crops by Digital soil Mapping. This data is integrated with weather and other agronomic information for applying an optimal quantity of fertilizer precisely at a specified area.

Drones scan and detect pests, diseases and weeds and apply pesticides at target areas after the data is analysed by an AI algorithm.

20 per cent of global GHG (GreenHouse Gases) emissions are contributed by agriculture. Stringent laws are there to reduce soil nutrient loss and usage of chemicals by 50 per cent. Usage of chemicals can be reduced by 15 per cent, without impacting the yield, by deploying 5G powered drones as described above.

Drones can collect and deliver information about field status and crop stage. As 5G supports high bandwidth, the 5G enabled drones can collect high resolution quality video data and relay it faster. The drone operation experts sitting at remote places operate these drones and the farmers can derive the benefits.

• Autonomous agricultural vehicles: Farmers can monitor tractor's status from their cell phone which provides images and live data of the tractor. Tractors can be fitted with 5G enabled devices which allow operators to adjust remotely tractor's speed, depth of soil penetration and distance between seed rows. Driverless farm equipment will provide more flexibility and efficiency and save labour cost.

• Live stock monitoring and management: India has more than 30 crore cattle and is the country with the largest consumption of dairy products. But our cattle productivity is less. Daily milk yield per cattle is 4 to 6 litres whereas the same is 30 to 40 litres in Israel. Technology can help in increasing the productivity of the cattle. Each year farmers lose significant amounts of money due to animal illness. Using 5G enabled sensor devices, farmers can monitor pests and diseases in farm animals and take action.

These sensor devices can be fixed to the ear of the animal and farmers can find out remotely whether the animal is in heat stage or sick. Sensor devices can be fixed on its stomach to find out how good its digestive system is. Animal's behaviour, health, feeding patterns, food and water quality, hygiene levels can be monitored. Their location in the farm can be tracked and traced. Livestock reproductive cycles and the calving process can be tracked for safer and successful deliveries.

• Precision Aquaculture: Using 5G powered sensors, pH value of water, water level, DO (dissolved oxygen) in water, temperature etc can be monitored remotely in real-time by the farmer and a better environment can be created at the aquaculture ponds to increase the yield.

• Weather stations: 5 G enabled weather station devices can help farmers to monitor wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, sun exposure and air pressure specific to his farm, in real time.

• ICT enabled information flow from farmers to markets: Using 5G technology, along with block chain technology, the flow of produce from farmers to markets (especially perishable products) can be traced by scanning barcodes/ RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) on them.

Digital Farming

In nutshell, Data Acquisition using 5G enabled drones, Data Analysis (using AI/ML algorithms, data analytics and real time data processing in the cloud), Advisory (real time on- farm operation optimisation based on Data Analysis) and in- farm Actuation (triggering in- farm 5G enabled machinery and robotics based on advisory) are part of Digital Farming.

Way forward

Global food production should increase by 70 per cent to meet the growing demand. Agriculture is in the early days of another revolution. By 2025 the amount of data generated from IOT devices deployed in farms will be 55 per cent. Data, 5G connectivity, AI, data analytics and sensors can increase yields, reduce the requirement of water and other inputs and build sustainability and resilience across crop cultivation and animal husbandry.

While the application of 5G in disrupting agriculture in our country is promising, there are some challenges and one of them is the small land holding size in our country. The average land holding size in our country is comparatively smaller than in other countries and stands at less than 2 hectares. Moreover, 33 per cent of farm households own less than 0.4 hectares of land. This factor has to be taken into account while implementing the 5G solutions in agriculture in our country.

(The author is a former Advisor, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India)