Role of 5G technology in agriculture
With the rapid invention of 5G technology and increasing digital services and advanced technology, we are very close to witnessing a technological revolution. Apart from internet speed, 5G can also open new avenues for business and other fields.
Some industries like agriculture still have not received the benefit of technological advancement as agricultural fields still rely on conventional agricultural practices but merging technology with conventional farming techniques will bring revolution to the agriculture field.
- Agriculture sensors: Sensors like optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, and GPS sensors help in mapping farms and crops even at a minute level and preserve resources
- Smart irrigation- Agriculture is highly influenced by irrigation. The amount of water and timing of when to irrigate is equally important. 5G will help in reading soil regarding moisture content, soil pattern, and salinity and provides farmers with needed information.
- AI-powered machines- Farmers connecting machines through 5G help them to get data about position and function and do the needful in their absence.
- Livestock management- Geo locations help farmers to monitor the health of their cattle and activities. The data regarding food intake, and fertility will help farmers in better management of cattle farming. IT can work through wi-fi and Bluetooth and 5G in case of large farms.
- 5 G-enabled applications help farmers with the weather conditions, rainfall, agriculture market, prices of seeds and pesticides and all is just possible by connecting their smartphones with 5G.
- Data aggregation- 5G holds strong potential for data collection and it helps corporates farm for building private 5G networks from micro-monitored crop management systems which help in getting real-time information about needs and deficiencies.
- Drone operations– Drones are less costly than tractors and give more useful information about crops and 5G will increase their efficiency to collect HD images and high speed will help in the functioning of AI drones. It is included with a crop sprayer and weed sprayer, it identifies the affected area and sprays the pesticide.
- Farms leveraging IoT to help growers minimize operation costs, it is targeted to install 12 million agricultural sensors globally by 2023
- Precision farming- Most of the time a particular patch of the land need treatment and we end up treating the whole land which causes more damage this happens due to the unavailability of data and 5G will help to give accurate information and farmer can act accordingly on a proper patch of land.
- Connected cows and calving- In 2017 “Moocall ” sensor by Vodafone alert farmers when a calf is born. 25,000 calves have been born safely. Combining IoT and 5G will do wonders.
- Reduce water consumption- Vodafone has introduced a worldwide IoT Network grid which reduced 40 % irrigation and such function will improve due to the development of 5G.
Future of 5G technology in Agriculture
If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right in the country – M.S. Swaminathan (Father of Green revolution).
Agriculture is a primary activity of the economy that includes growing crops, fruits, vegetables, and flowers and rearing livestock. It plays an important role in the Indian economy. More than 70% of rural households depend on agriculture. It contributes 17% to Indian GDP and provides employment to almost 58% of the population. The share of agriculture in GDP increased to 19.9% in 2020-21. Agriculture was the only sector that proved resilient during the covid -19 pandemic, as it is the only sector with a growth rate of 3.6 % in 2020-21 and 3.9% in 2021-22.