Digital Agriculture and Food Security: Framework for Integrating Agricultural Knowledge Services with Digital India N H Rao

Outline Strategic challenges of food security and business environment for farmer Agricultural Knowledge System in India Digital India – infrastructure to connect farmers with agricultural knowledge services Integrating agricultural knowledge services with digital India infrastructure Implications for policy and investments 2

Strategic challenges of food security: food demand of rising population and middle class Fig Source: Global Harvest – GAP report, 2014 Middle class: households with daily expenditures between $10 and $100 per person in PPP terms Primary determinants of increased demand: 50-60% from rising population 40-50% from rising incomes – uncertainties in product mix from differences in food access, preferences, culture, geographies, transportation, retail, etc. Greater emphasis on food quality, health and well being

Strategic challenges of food security: creating shared value across the value chain for inclusive growth More value can be transferred to farmer with timely knowledge and technology interventions across all components of agricultural value chain ICT “systems and services” platform can enable delivery of customized knowledge and interventions in a sustainable way Fig adapted from Ferroni, 2011

Strategic challenges of food security: technology, sustainability, climate resilience Technology (TFP growth) Sustainability of Natural Resources Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) By 2050: four fold increase in land productivity three fold increase in water productivity doubling of energy use efficiency six fold increase in labour productivity While enhancing natural capital : Integrate climate change into agriculture to reduce risk through 3 objectives: Increase farm productivity Increase adaptive capacity to climate change at multiple levels (adaptation) Reduce GHG emissions; increase carbon sinks (mitigation) Current: 1.9% Required : 3% Only 59% of food demand in India can be met in 2030 at present TFP growth Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture (SIA) – process knowledge and systems based Integration across scales Source: Global Harvest – GAP report, 2014; ICAR vision 2050; FAO

Strategic challenges of food security: access and reliability of knowledge services multiple sources of information limited access (~40%) Major sources: input dealers, aggregators, credit agencies and other farmers (~17%) Public extension sources: < 10% Public extension is the main formal, research based source of authenticated (peer reviewed) knowledge Fig Source: BS Sontakki, NAARM (final report of L&CB project), Ferroni (2011)

The knowledge services challenge: data to wisdom pyramid Key issues: Connect people with information Enable conversion of information to knowledge Connect people with other knowledgeable people Encapsulate knowledge, to make it easier to transfer Customize and Disseminate knowledge Scale Digital India project : can provide the platform to build an effective Data to Wisdom pyramid at village level

Digital India – Infrastructure to connect farmers with Agricultural Knowledge Services OFN connectivity up to Block level in place by 2011 BBNL formed in 2012 to extend BB connectivity to GPs (250000): PPP model with TSPs Pilot studies in 3 States, 20 GPs (2012) for BMPs Status on Oct 2015: 3200 GP connected; one district fully digital Target: 50000 by Dec 2015; 250000 by Dec 2017 Fig Source: BBNL Agricultural Knowledge Services Education Financial services <500 to >3000 households per GP

Data to Information to Knowledge pathways at GP level (adapted from: Connected farming in India, Vodafone Foundation, 2015) Agricultural Knowledge services Tailored agricultural information over mobile phones to the farming community (weather, inputs, production, post harvest) Access to local markets Provide transparency in daily commodity supply chains through use of mobile registration services and receipts Farmer transactions Integrate farmers into a registered database of dealers, financial institutions, insurance companies, traders to enable and track transactions and payments via mobile money. Field audit Use tablets to improve efficiency for auditors monitoring quality, sustainability and certification requirements Receipts services Provide transparency in daily commodity supply chains through use of mobile registration services and receipts. Smart phone enabled services Provides a combination of smart phone enabled information services, with mobile payments, loans, insurance and receipting and a virtual marketplace

GIS : provides basic framework for data to wisdom knowledge platform at each GP level User Interface: visualization and decision-support Real time Markets, Profits, Vulnerability, Risk, contingency plans, insurance Crop plan, Weather advisory, GAP, Drought risk, traceability, Geo-spatial Library Resource Inventory (Geospatial Spatial Data Base: land ownership, climate, soils, prices, resources, socioeconomic, markets, etc.

NAARM Geospatial Library

Customized knowledge delivery to farmer Framework for Agricultural Knowledge Services through Digital India Platform Geospatial knowledge platform at GP level for agricultural knowledge services (farm level data, GAP) Knowledge delivery on mobile/smart phones Integrate farmer transactions with other services of Digital India at GP: credit, dealers, traders This will enable: Tracking input transactions and operations (traceability) Access to authenticated knowledge Implementation of GAP Link GAP to insurance, credit, procurement transactions Customized knowledge delivery to farmer

Implications for policy and action National market for agriculture for web based transactions(approved by cabinet) Ensuring authenticated knowledge - link with NARS / KVK Trained personnel at GP to interface with farmers – investments in skill building in managing knowledge services at GP Integration with markets and logistics network Links with sensor based data from farms Sensor data , archival data and other data to provide base for big data analytics based knowledge discovery and decisions

Eventually …… towards wisdom Big data analytics based knowledge generation and transfer can be enabled with data from 250000 GPs and other sources Fig source: Matt Darr, 2015

Thank you