Revision summary
Weather, mKisan, Soil Health Card and drones improve the production decision. PM-KISAN and PMFBY ride digital rails so cash and insurance reach the farmer. e-NAM, AGMARKNET and e-warehouse receipts improve the sale decision. FPOs and ONDC-type tools can widen the buyer set. The phone works only if mandi assaying, storage and roads exist.
Model answer
Introduction
E-technology in farming is not a slogan. It is weather on a phone, a soil card, a drone map, a warehouse receipt, and a price on e-NAM (National Agriculture Market). Production decisions and sale decisions both improve when the farmer sees timely data instead of only the trader at the gate.
Body
Production
- India Meteorological Department nowcasts, mKisan and Kisan Call Centres give weather and pest advice in local languages so sowing and spray are timed.
- Soil Health Card and remote-sensing maps show nutrient gaps; this cuts blind use of urea.
- Drones, satellite imagery and Kisan drones under agricultural guidelines help survey crop stress, spray in a narrow window, and estimate area.
- Precision tools — drip with sensors, seeders with GPS in larger farms — save water and seed where the farmer can afford them.
- Digital Direct Benefit Transfer of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and crop-insurance enrolment under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) put cash and cover on an electronic trail, which is part of the production risk pad.
Marketing
- e-NAM links mandis so a lot can, in principle, find a buyer beyond the local yard, with quality assaying and online bidding.
- AGMARKNET and State price apps publish arrivals and rates, which weakens the information monopoly of the first trader.
- Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts let stored grain become credit, so the farmer need not dump the harvest in one week.
- Farmer Producer Organisations using apps, Open Network for Digital Commerce pilots, and private traceability tools open a path to bulk buyers and exports.
- Logistics platforms for trucks and cold chain reduce spoilage of horticulture if the road and the pack-house exist.
Limits
- A phone does not replace a road, a dry warehouse, or an assaying lab. E-technology amplifies public mandi and storage reform; it does not substitute them.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD E[E-technology] --> P[Production] E --> K[Marketing] P --> W[Weather soil drone advice] K --> N[e-NAM warehouse prices] W --> Y[Better yield lower risk] N --> R[Better price less dump sale]
Conclusion
E-technology helps production through weather, soil, pest and insurance data. It helps marketing through e-NAM, warehouse receipts and price visibility. The farmer gains only where connectivity, assaying and storage sit behind the screen.
Quick related
Students also ask
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State the objectives and measures of land reforms in India. Discuss how land ceiling policy on landholding can be considered as an effective reform under economic criteria.
Next question in the 2023 paper (Q4). View answer →
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Does e-NAM set the farm-gate price by itself?
No. It is a trading layer. Price still depends on quality labs, lots, and whether buyers actually bid.
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Is a drone a production technology or a marketing one?
Mainly production: survey and spray. Yield maps can later support insurance and credit, which sit next to marketing.
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