Application of Digital Technologies for the Next Level of Agriculture Growth and Transformation under Changing the Indian Agriculture: A Critical Review

The rapid population growth has driven the demand for more food, fiber, energy, and water, which is associated to an increase in the need to use natural resources in a more sustainable way. The growing connectivity in the rural environment, in addition to its greater integration with data from sensor systems, remote sensors, equipment, and smart-phones have paved the way for new concepts from the so-called digital agriculture. The information that crops offer is turned into profitable decisions only when efficiently managed. Current advances in data management are making Smart Farming grow exponentially as data have become the key element in modern agriculture to help producers with critical decision-making. Valuable advantages appear with objective information acquired through sensors with the aim of maximizing productivity and sustainability. These kind of data-based managed farms rely on data that can increase efficiency by avoiding the misuse of resources and the pollution of the environment. Data-driven agriculture, with the help of robotic solutions incorporating artificial intelligent techniques, sets the grounds for the sustainable agriculture of the future. Digital agriculture offers far-reaching opportunities for accelerating agricultural transformation. Although there are concerns that digital agriculture will enhance the market power of large agribusiness enterprises and increase the digital divide, a combination of new actors and public action can help accelerate the supply of digital agricultural technology, manage threats of market concentration, and harness the opportunities of digital agriculture for all.