Smart Agriculture: A Tango Between Modern IoT-Based Technologies and Traditional Agriculture Techniques

Abstract

According to the UN report 2017 on population, the global population is going to rise to approximately 9.8 billion by the year 2050, most of which is going to be concentrated around the larger parts of Asia in developing economies like China, India, Pakistan, etc. These countries would be under tremendous pressure to provide essentials like food, water and clean climate to their citizens under challenging situations such as diminishing supply of cultivable land, non-renewable energy and freshwater. Smart agricultural techniques can provide a possible set of solutions to improve the lives of farmers and consumers by technologically advancing the process of cultivation, protection and storage of agricultural production. It intends to help the agro-based decision-makers in taking informed decisions regarding maximizing crop yields and optimizing resources on a real-time basis. Applications of Internet of Things (IoT-based) technologies can also be extended beyond the farms to areas as fish farming, insect-breeding, livestock or even space farming. Success of such solutions depends upon how well the IoT-based technologies ‘tango’ with the traditional farming techniques.