Agri-Food Technology

As the population is rising every second, the demand for food increases. But according to recent reports, there is not enough vegetarian food available to feed every single person on the earth. Thus the food production per agricultural land should increase. To deal with global food scarcity, many nations are working on developing new agri-food technology, that will not only boost-up food production, but will improve food quality, retain sustainability, and protect the soil.

What is Agri-Food Technology?

Agri-food technology or Agritech is simply a new technology in the sector of food production and farming, which lets farmers produce more crops. Agri-food technology aims to improve the quality of food, promote sustainability, and retain soil fertility. Many researchers are doctors believe that agri-food technology can also avoid serious health issues. Agri-food technology not only increases productivity, health, and safety but also earns a good profit. Agri-food technology mainly involves the creation of new beverages and food products, crop management, reducing weeds in crops, retaining the nutrition of produced crops, water management, agri-robotic, etc.

Agri-Food Technology

Technologies Developed under Agri-Food Technology?

At present, there are plenty of new technologies developed in the agri-food sector and many are under research and development. Some of these agri-food technologies are discussed below.

• Hydroponics: It is an advanced cropping technology, and type of horticulture that involves the use of mineral nutrient solutions missed with an aqueous solution to grow crops without soil. Many terrestrial and aquatic plants can be cultivated and grown by this technology. 
• Aquaponics: It is a sub-category of hydroponics, in which a variety of aquatic animals are raised under aquaculture and then, water used in the aquaculture is further used for the nitrification of the plants developed from the hydroponics.
• Aeroponics: It’s a very uncommon technology, that involves the use of mist or air to grow plants, it doesn’t even require any kind of medium like soil or water. In this method, the nutrient-rich water solution is sprayed on the dangling roots of the plants, which helps them grow, and this activity is carried out in a semi-closed environment.
• Vertical Farming: Vertical farming is one of the latest technologies that involve growing crops in vertically stacked layers, in a controlled environment. This farming technique makes use of hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics for growing crops. These crops are vertically stacked over each other on a shelf, which occupies less space and produces more food.

The GOI has initiated a digital agriculture mission for 2021-25, which will make use of GIS technology, AI, remote sensing and Block chain.

Need for Agri-Food Technology in India:

India is an agriculturally rich country and a majority of its population relies upon farming to earn their livelihood, and also the agricultural sector of India is the highest contributing sector to the GDP of India. But still, in India, farming is done by conventional methods only, over many years not much technology has been adopted by the small Indian farmers in agriculture. Thus there is a great need for agri-food technology in India because there are plenty of natural resources and fertile agricultural land available in India. And making use of Agri-food technology in agriculture can multiply the agricultural produce by many times. It will not only provide higher profits to the framer but will also boost up the GDP at a rapid pace. 

At present in India, among a variety of available agri-food technologies, Indian farmers have adopted horticulture, organic farming, and terrace farming in some hilly areas. Apart from these new and advanced machinery, has now reached Indian farms, which makes sowing and harvesting the crops a lot easier and faster. But still, there is a need for adopting more agri-food technology in India.

Benefits of Agri-Food Technology:

• It can produce more crops and consumes less space.
• Agri-food technology promotes sustainability and retains soil fertility for longer. 
• It allows, growing crops with making use of the least possible water. 
• It can earn good profit for farmer and even boosts the economy.
• The quality of crops produced is far better and is good for health.

Drawbacks of Agri-Food Technology:

• It requires a huge investment in research and development of new technologies.
• It takes a long time to develop new technology and adopt it.
• Agri-food technology is not quite popular as conventional farming and most people don’t rely on it.