IT and Agribusiness in India

Kristine Herkströter, Katja Kanapin, Ritu Gulati

India is also known as an agricultural land where more than 80% of the people engage themselves in farming and around 169 million hectares of agricultural land. In spite, of agriculture being the basic means of livelihood for most of the Indians, the agricultural sector still remains unstructured and approx. 91% of the farmers own less than 4 hectares of agricultural land. Till date, it faces a major problem due to its bad infrastructure. The literacy level of India being at a low of 61% is also another major problem for the country.

The states which did not benefit much from the green revolution have emerged as new leaders in the field if IT on the world map. Bangalore, better known as the “Silicon Valley” of India with more than 300 software companies like SAP and WIPRO. In Bangalore itself there are 30% of the total no. of Software firms of India.

Hyderabad is another southern city which has developed itself as a Hi-Tech city with world class civic infrastructure, in the leadership of the then chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu. An ardent IT advocate with a vision for a bright future of the state. He also managed to get an independent loan for the state from the World Bank for the AP Economic Restructuring Programmes. This loan was used for the upliftment of the neglected sector. Under his supervision a new policy in 1999 came into force the AP Vision 2020 which was targeted towards particular groups.

In the area of communication also India faces problems with the poor functioning of the landline network. This causes many times a big communication gap between the farmers and the people who would be buying their harvest resulting in heavy losses for the farmer. As only 61% of the population is literate the use of Internet and Computer is very low which is coupled with heavy power- cuts in the country.

Due to these problems faced by the farmers today usage of mobile phones is on an increase. This being the fastest way of communication for the farmers is also not very expensive as compared to computer and is easy to use.

The usage of mobile phones can be seen as a very useful component in agriculture. With the help of it the farmers can be better informed about the present market rates, be in contact with other farmers and also be well informed about the market conditions and newest information’s in area of agricultural developments. Here an eg. on how the usage of mobile phones has helped the fishermen in India to make more profits can be cited. Being in regular contact with their buyers, the fishermen in India are able to sell their catch (Sardines) very fresh and fast. This is very necessary in case of products which spoil very fast if not stored in proper conditions. Thus, we can say usage of mobile phones has helped the farmers earn huge profits.

Conclusion

It can be concluded, that although India being an agricultural country has an unorganised agricultural sector with approx. 91% of the farmers own less than 4 hectares of agricultural land. On the other hand, the IT sector in India has boomed and come up as a leader not only in India but also in the world. The innovations in the field of IT have also shown its impact on the agricultural sector especially with the usage of mobile telephones. Usage of mobile phones has also helped the farmers earn more profits and being better informed about the market conditions. The usage of Computer and Internet still remain at a low in context of agricultural area and farmers. Firstly, the computers are very expensive for a farmer to own, secondly, due to very low levels of literacy and finally due to heavy power cuts.