Mobile-Based Drip Irrigation Control - Yes. It is Possible!
While playing with his two-year-old son, Raju, a farmer based out of Tamil Nadu, gets an irrigation alert on his smartphone. He simply operates the irrigation and fertigation mechanism from his phone without stepping out in the scorching heat and continues playing with his child! That’s precisely digital farming, and it is revolutionizing the agricultural sector.
If you’ve been a conventional farmer, you’d feel this is an imaginary story, perhaps, which could turn into reality only after a decade or two. But that’s not the case. Mobile-phone-based drip irrigation is contemporary and being adopted by thousands of farmers across India. Of course, it is evolving. But farmers are already benefiting from it in various ways. So, let’s look at some benefits of mobile phone-based drip irrigation.
6 Benefits of Digital Farming or Mobile Phone-Based Drip Irrigation Control
Digital farming refers to integrating digital technology into crop management and various other processes associated with crop cultivation and fertigation. It offers a range of tactical, strategic, and commercial benefits to farmers. Let’s look at five of them.
1. Remote Operations
As stated in the above example, digital farming enables farmers to operate irrigation-related activities remotely without frequently stepping out into the field. The drip fertigation system sends automated alerts on the farmers’ phones, prompting them to irrigate per the set schedule. Thus, farmers irrigate the crops on time and only to the extent required. It helps regulate the water supply and foster controlled crop growth.
2. Better Monitoring
Technology allows farmers to better the health of their crops. It is possible via sensors that can monitor various aspects like temperature, soil quality, moisture levels, water requirements, etc.
3. Increased Yield
Schedule-based and automatic drip irrigation system ensures fertigation consistency. This, coupled with the fundamental principle of precision irrigation, can help farmers achieve a relatively higher amount of yield than conventional irrigation.
4. Informed Decisions
This is another significant advantage. AI-enabled digital farming enables farmers to compute aspects like water and nutrient requirements per the crop phase, soil moisture levels, external temperature, etc. Thus, they can make informed decisions based on the data the system provides them. Additionally, digitization can help them assess soil quality and make recommendations about crop cultivation.
5. Timely Action
Manual drip irrigation operations could be delayed, often due to various circumstances. But remote irrigation operations ensure automated and timely alerts that enable farmers to do what’s necessary without delays.
6. Considerable Cost and Time Savings
While drip fertigation already boosts profits, digital farming further augments them via better and remote agricultural management. Digital farming allows farmers to lay out a field more effectively via GPS and advanced insights. It can help them increase yield and expedite the pace of a particular activity, thereby reducing costs significantly.
7. Peace of Mind
When timely irrigation and fertigation can help control yield and its quality, when informed decision-making can help save cost and time, and when advanced technologies can help farmers monitor their crops in real time, peace of mind can become a reality! Farmers will stay relieved to a significant extent and have the bandwidth to think about something else as well apart from farming or improving farming techniques further.
Many may argue that the initial investment in integrating digital farming is too high for Indian farmers to afford it. But partnering with the right drip irrigation and digital farming solution providers can help. Besides, the cost, time, and effort that digital farming saves, in the long run, outweigh the initial costs involved in setting it up!
If you haven’t already, you must seriously consider adopting digital farming and reap its various tangible benefits. Netafim can help. We are a leading drip irrigation and digital farming solutions provider that has helped thousands of farmers streamline agriculture and grow more from less. Our digital farming solutions help farmers make informed and data-driven decisions that help make farming more predictable and profitable. Visit https://www.netafimindia.com/contact-us/ to know more and connect with our experts.
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