‘Our agriculture is marred with multiple problems’

The annual Krishi Mahotsav hosted by Jain Irrigation systems at Jalgaon is a dynamic platform that brings agricultural research to farmers, bringing innovation to the grassroots. The impactful initiative has been instrumental in transforming farmers lives by providing them with hands-on experience of agricultural practices from soil preparation to harvest, post-harvest management, water and soil conservation, advanced drip irrigation, fertigation methods etc. Jain irrigation systems have also ventures into automation and have brought out products for smart agriculture techniques, seedling production, planting processes, and futuristic farming concepts also. In an interaction with Abhijit Mulye, the Political Editor of ‘The Perfect Voice’, Ashok Jain, Chairman of the Jain Irrigation Syatems Ltd., discusses various aspects of this unique initiative. Excerpts…

What are the top three “next-gen” technologies you have introduced recently that you believe will be the biggest game-changers for the average Indian farmer?

Jain Irrigation has consistently focused on improving farmers’ livelihoods and increasing their income through continuous research and innovation. Recently, we have introduced three next-generation technologies that are proving to be true game-changers for Indian farmers.

The first is Precision Farming, which enables farmers to optimise inputs such as water, fertilisers, and nutrients, ensuring higher productivity with lower costs.

The second is Climate-Smart Technology, designed to help farmers adapt to changing climatic conditions by improving resilience, reducing risks, and ensuring sustainable farming practices.

The third major advancement is the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor-based technologies, which allows real-time monitoring of soil moisture, crop health, and field conditions.

In addition, Jain Irrigation is effectively using an integrated system of sensors and satellite technology. To support this, the company has developed its own cloud-based platform, through which satellite-driven insights are delivered directly to farmers. This approach brings advanced space and digital technologies to the grassroots level, empowering farmers with timely, data-driven decisions and making agriculture more efficient, profitable, and sustainable.

Are we approaching a time when an Indian farmer can manage their entire irrigation and fertigation schedule via a smartphone?

Certainly yes. We have devised such systems that would help farmers not just plan but also execute their irrigation and fertigation scheduled over their smart phones. That too remotely. The farmers won’t have to be there at their fields to monitor the irrigation and fertigation schedules. In fact, this is the technology that we have displayed here at the Jain Irrigation Systems headquarters at Jalgaon. Thousands of farmers from across India visit this place every year. They can check every aspect of the systems here. We also organise their factory visits. That enhances their trust in the technology.

In your view where does Indian agriculture stand when compared to the global trends?

Our agriculture is marred with multiple problems from irrigation to productivity. But, in my opinion, they all are generated from or related to fragmentation and issues related to ownership. When farms are smaller in size, deployment of technology becomes difficult. From making arrangements regarding irrigation to everything else becomes a costly affair in a small farm. This is a peculiar issue that bothers Indian agriculture. We at Jian Irrigation Systems, have been battling this unique problem since beginning. In fact, this one issue forces us to adopt completely different path than all the other global players in the sector. The other problem is related to manpower in the fields. Fragmentation has made that also very costly for common farmers. If they somehow overcome all such problems then the last thing that hits them hard is the poor systems related to marketing and value addition of the agricultural products. To add to all these, irritable climatic conditions has now added to the woos of the farmers. In that sense we are way behind the farmers world over.

With groundwater levels depleting rapidly, what specific technological interventions have you developed for water-stressed regions like Marathwada or Vidarbha?

Farmers and agriculture are the foremost things throughout the world. They are unmatched and hence enhancing their lives has been our moto since beginning. As I said earlier, most of our technological interventions have been developed to suit the Indian conditions. Our slogans like ‘more crop per drop’ too are directed towards it. We started off with piping systems, then as the logical progression we expanded into drip irrigation and that division has produced several technological interventions that would be helpful for farmers in water-stressed areas. Apart from the irrigation, we have been into agri-inputs such as tissue-culture plants, saplings etc. and even in the sector of hydroponics and solar systems.