Precision Farming for Small Agricultural Farm: Indian Scenario

Aims: Precision farming becomes more and more an accepted way of crop production and helps to achieve a sustainable environmental friendly agriculture. Furthermore, growing interest in automated data acquisition and information processing is going to form another milestone towards improved farm management and an overall trace ability in agricultural food production. The benefit and effectiveness of using precision farming techniques is highly dependent on the capabilities of the utilized technology. Study Design: The study was design based on the available report and hence it was decided to design the research work so as to collect maximum information including case studies. Place and Duration of Study: The study was undertaken at our Institute i.e. CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, India during the period Aug. 2011 to Feb. 2012. Methodology: This research is basically focused on the work done so far on the subject precision farming for small agricultural farm. Accordingly work was reviewed and consolidated points are discussed in this paper in the subsequent sections. Results: Precision farming provides a new solution using a systems approach for today's agricultural issues, namely the need to balance productivity with environmental concerns. Precision farming aims at increased economic returns, as well as reducing the energy input and the environmental impact of agriculture. Conclusion: The potential of this technology has already been demonstrated, but in practice, meaningful delivery is difficult as it needs large scale commercial application to realize the benefits. PA is facilitating the prospects and scope for switching over to modern agriculture leaving the traditional one by utilizing right resources in right time and management, which results an environment friendly sustainable agriculture