Precision Farming for Resource Use Efficiency

Abstract

Globally, agriculture remains one of the primary occupations of citizens supporting more than one-third of the human population. Only 17% of global agricultural land is irrigated that produces 40% of food resources. Several factors threaten the agricultural production systems all over the world. These mainly include population explosion, industrialization, competition to the primary agriculture sector by the secondary and tertiary sectors, limited resource bases, and land degradation. The demand for water resources is projected to increase by 60% by the year 2025. Around 44% of agricultural land in India is facing problems of land degradation due to different causes. In the modern era, the concept of precision farming (PF) has gained much importance as it possesses the potential to improve yields using minimum inputs while keeping the environment sustainable. Precision farming refers to the process of maneuvering, with improved accuracy, over the inputs and practices to fine-tune with the local prevailing conditions for maximization of outputs with minimum resource/input use. Precision farming revolves around three basic steps, i.e., capturing variability, analyzing variability, and finally decision making. Precision farming aims to prevent land degradation, resource depletion, and environmental degradation and thus improve livelihood. The concept of PF is equally applicable in different branches of agriculture as well as in animal husbandry. Different technologies make up the very core of PF. These mainly include global positioning system (GPS), geographical information system (GIS), remote sensing, variable rate application (VRA), Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics. Resource use efficiencies are the important advantages of PF, which include water use efficiency, soil use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency, energy use efficiency, and other efficiencies. Around 185 million tonnes of fertilizers are used annually which cause different issues to environment and agriculture when used non-judiciously. Under PF, nitrogen-use efficiency has been reported to increase by 368%. Additionally, drop in nitrogen residues up to 30–50% levels has also been reported. The other added advantage is environmental protection and sustainability. Variable irrigation under PF can reduce up to 25% water usage in an agricultural field. In this chapter, we have attempted to elaborate on PF in agriculture, related aspects, advantages, and associated resources use efficiencies.