Bayer Crop Science brings digital farming to India
Digital farming is slowly making inroads into India’s agriculture sector.
While some companies have introduced technologies that measure land moisture, sprinkle water and map land through satellites, Bayer Crop Science, a German MNC in India, has outlined a plan for the agriculture using digital tools. Under the plan for introducing tools, the firm has launched on pilot basis its trade mark product ‘FarmRise’ Mobile Farm Care in India. “It intends to broadly launch FarmRise in India in 2019. Later, it plans expansion in other parts of Asia, Africa, and South America,” said company’s vision for future of farming.
This month, The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Bayer, commercially launched its Climate ‘FieldView’ digital agriculture platform in Europe. This technology enables farmers to easily collect and visualise field data, analyse and evaluate crop performance and manage field variability through customised fertility and seeding plans in order to optimise crop productivity. This platform could be rolled out in India later.
While Bayer is yet to discuss details of the plan, several experts have recommended a brown revolution (farm land revolution by using digital tools) like digital technologies which are used in some global markets. Indian farms need that to meet the water shortage for farms, especially in the wake of deficient rains.
Mega savings are possible if digital tools are used and, moreover, productivity will jump.
India’s decision to permit commercial use of drones is quite useful for this purpose.
After the Monsanto merger, Bayer organised its first major event last week on ‘Future of Farming Dialogue 2018’. Liam Condon, a member of the Bayer board of management and president of the crop science, said in the event: “Digital transformation is one of the driving forces of innovation, giving farmers completely new ways to look at their fields and providing them with data and insights to make smarter decisions. Digital tools have shaped many industries and we are just scratching the surface.”
In 2019, the firm will launch ‘Vayego’, a foliar and soil-applied insecticide for use in rice, corn and horticulture crops. It is an innovation in crop protection and offers farmers a broad and multifaceted range of benefits for controlling destructive caterpillars as well as beetles and other pests.
The company’s other upcoming projects include multiple varieties of seeds developed to deflect pests and it is also working on crop protection tools to make each acre optimally productive. These innovations include second-generation insect-protected soybeans and cotton.