Trimble to boost precision ag adoption in India

By doing so, Trimble wants to support the Indian government initiative of doubling farmers income by 2022. The US based global navigation service provider announced that it is chalked out a three -pronged strategy to increase the adoption of precision agriculture in India.

Increase crop yields

The company believes that this will boost farm productivity and that farmers with the usage of precision agriculture technologies can increase crop yields of cash crops like potatoes by as much as 30%.

“We are in discussion with tractor Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to make precision auto-steer and auto-guidance technologies accessible to Indian farmers. Auto steer and auto guidance technology, which uses GNSS-based navigation to accurately guide a tractor’s movements in the field, will help farmers with sowing seeds and harvesting of crops,” the company said in a statement.

Falling water table and soil erosion

Speaking on this, Trimble India & SAARC region’s managing director Rajan Aiyer said: “We believe precision agriculture can address two critical structural issues affecting Indian farmers: falling water table and rapid erosion of soil fertility. Further, such technology adoption in farming can significantly boost crop productivity and reduce water and input wastage, in turn increasing farmers’ incomes.”

Three -pronged strategy

“We are committed to making our tools and technologies more affordable and suited to Indian agriculture environment, through a high degree of localisation, making them more accessible to farmers through innovative business models and pan-India presence,” Aiyer underlined.

Rental and pay-per-use models

Revealing its second strategy the company said that looking at huge small farm holdings in India, it aims to provide its services on rental and pay-per-use models with select in-country partners for its precision agriculture tools.

This will help the company reach farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land and are unable to invest in cutting-edge precision agriculture technologies.

With a presence in just five states that include Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the company aims to expand its distribution of laser-leveling solutions to cover major Indian states by 2020.

Trimble Laser Land Leveller and Green Seeker

The company is already testing its two key products, Trimble Laser Land Leveller and Green Seeker handheld device with farmers and agriculture scientists in India.

Laser Land Leveller is a high-precision laser-based land levelling system that helps farmers level their farmland in order to prevent wastage of water. The Green Seeker Handheld is an optical crop sensing device that is used to measure and quantify the health of a crop.

Huge growth potential

Currently, overall level of mechanisation in India is less than 50%, as compared to 90% in most of the developed countries, indicating a significant growth potential.
According to 2017 report by FICCI and Grant Thornton the farm equipment market in India is expected to reach USD 12.5 billion by 2022.