The Internet of things has been tremendously advancing itself benefitting to different sectors. Agriculture is a primary activity in the country. The whole nation is dependent on agriculture to satisfy the basic human need i.e. hunger. The global pandemic COVID-19 crisis adversely impacted the agriculturists. It affected their harvests and yields and transportation of essential commodities was ceased due to nationwide lockdown.
The newly launched emerging technologies were playing wonders and miracles to make the lives of humans simple and easier. The presence of IoT in the sector provides solutions to the local farmers. These solutions generated effective benefits and ultimately helped the farmers to achieve higher food production.
A day ago, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) an American multinational enterprise for information technology published that HPE Center of Excellence (CoE) IoT based agriculture in Andhra Pradesh benefited the farmers by enhancing their crop yields, nutritional value, and revenue with the application of technology.
HPE Center of Excellence IoT based agriculture concentrated on addressing the hurdles encountered by the farmers during COVID-19. Besides, HPE CoE is also focusing to upskill the students in the spheres of the Internet of things and allows them to excel in their employment career. The students are also given a favourable circumstance to work with IoT experts from HPE on edge-to-cloud technology.
The artificial intelligence and machine learning together as part of this initiative have largely helped the students and the farming community. The deep learning analytics and technology will help the farmers to improve their decision-making capabilities. These technologies will enable the farmers to be aware of the current soil conditions. The interaction with the students, the farmers will know the prescribed amount of water and the selection of manure.
In comparison to the conventional techniques of agriculture, machine learning algorithms helped the farmers in testing the conditions of the soil. These algorithms effectively resulted in saving 40 per cent of the water consumption level.
As a relief to the current COVID-19 pandemic lockdown scenario, the CoE enabled the farmers to monitor the crops and vegetation remotely. The farmers were able to make effective decisions regarding irrigation, treatment of soil, nutritional values, and harvesting eliminating the physical presence of the farmers in the field.
The advancement of technology is proving its potentials ensuring quality, efficiency, and sustainability of agriculture throughout the country. Currently, the land coverage is 2.5 acres and CoE will continue in providing assistance and support to the farmers.