E-BookPrecisionFarming in Horticulture

PRECISION FARMING

IN

HORTICULTURE

Editors

H. P. SINGH

GORAKH SINGH

JOSE C. SAMUEL

R.K. PATHAK

National Committee on Plasticulture Application in

Horticulture (NCPAH)

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation

Ministry of Agriculture

Govt. of India

Precision Farming Development Centre

Proceedings of the National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Hi-Tech Horticulture and Precision Farming 2002, held at Lucknow on 26-28 July, 2002

Editors

© 2003 NCPAH, DAC/PFDC, CISH

No part of this material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the copyright owners. The editors have taken utmost care to avoid errors in this publication, however the editors are in no way responsible for the authenticity of data or information given by the contributors.

Bibliographic Citation

Singh, H. P., Singh, Gorakh; Samuel, J. C., Pathak, R.K. (Eds), (2003). Precision Farming in Horticulture, NCPAH, DAC, MOA, PFDC, CISH, PP. 1-354.

Published by National Committee on Plasticulture Application in Horticulture (NCPAH), Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) and Precision Farming Development Centre (PFDC), Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), Lucknow

Photo Courtesy : Dr Gorakh Singh

Published by NCPAH, DAC/PFDC, CISH

FOREWORD

Horticulture has emerged as the most promising and favoured candidate promoting diversification and combating climate change. The growing demand, in recent years, for horticultural produce for internal consumption as well as for exports has highlighted the need for increasing the production and enhancing the productivity of these crops.

Efforts made to harness available technologies through Plan-schemes have yielded good results and India has secured a creditable position in the international scene in the production of many horticultural products such as mango, banana, cashew and cabbage. To tap the existing potential fully, however, it will be necessary to make available, to the farming community, the latest technologies in the cost-effective manner. Precision farming is one such area which can facilitate the most efficient utilization of resources and improve returns per unit area and time. The challenge of producing 265 million tonnes of horticultural produce by 2008 from the current level of 150 million tonnes, calls for the adoption of bold and imaginative strategic approaches, through the development of modern tools. Keeping this in view, the Government of India has contemplated the deployment of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming tools during the X Five-Year Plan.

In doing so, as many of the concepts being new, it was essential to take on board the advancements made within the country and abroad in terms of hardware and software. I am glad that all these issues were deliberated upon in detail during the National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming held on 26-28 July, 2002 at Lucknow. The exercise generated a wealth of information and it is heartening to note that the proceedings of the Seminar are being brought out in the form of a book entitled “Precision Farming in Horticulture” containing articles of

Government of India Ministry of Agriculture

Department of Agriculture & Cooperation Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi-110001 Phone : 3382651, 3388444 Fax No. : 3386004 Secretary

Government of India

I heartily compliment the Editors for the excellent effort that has gone into the compilation of this book for the benefit of scientists as well as policy-makers. I feel confident that its contents will prove to be of significant value in the years to come.

PREFACE

India being endowed with varying climatic conditions provides ample opportunity for the development of horticulture. Recognizing the potential and opportunities, which horticulture provides enhanced focus and plan investment has been rewarding. With a production of 153 million MT, India has emerged a major global player in horticulture. Horticulture is expected to have accelerated growth rate above 7 per cent for achieving overall growth of agriculture to the tune of 4 per cent. In the task of achieving the higher growth rate, hi-tech interventions like precision farming in horticulture is essentially required, as horticultural crops, whether it be a fruit, vegetable, flower, spice, medicinal and aromatic plant or plantation crops, respond to technologies like micropropagation, microirrigation, fertigation etc. In order to optimize the use of resources and improve the returns to the farmers, these technologies have to be adopted. The establishment of Plasticulture Development Centre (PDC) at 17 locations, has enabled to develop regionally differentiated technologies, besides capacity building of farmers and official in promoting the hi-tech tools, and past experiences are suggestive of rewarding outcome in terms of increased production and productivity.

Precision Farming, has attracted the attention of developed countries for increasing productivity by temporal and spatial management of resources using various tools. The concept of precision farming is new to the country and needs appropriate attention for efficient utilization of resources to achieve higher input-use efficiency in given time. Plastic Development Centres working on various components of precision farming have been redesignated to Precision Farming Development Centres. To conceptualize the programme and develop appropriate action plan and to promote the concepts it was thought appropriate to discuss issues involved in the development of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming in larger group before launching new scheme. Accordingly a National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming was organized by the National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture (NCPAH), Ministry of Agriculture at Precision Farming Development Centre, CISH, Lucknow, in July 2002. The conference had participation of all the stake holders, who deliberated systematically the need and modalities for the promotion of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming. Recognising the richness of knowledge, which was gathered in this workshop, this book entitled, Precision Farming in Horticulture, is an excellent documentation of information. This book contains chapters from experts in the field covering hi-tech horticulture, precision farming, and crop specific technology.

The Editors would like to place on record their gratefulness to Shri J.N.L. Srivastava, the then Secretary (A&C) for his encouragement and guidance in conceptualizing of the programmes on hi-tech horticulture and precision farming. The Editors are highly grateful to Shri Mohan Kanda, Secretary (A&C) for his help and support in promoting the development of horticulture through hi-tech interventions. Thanks are also due to Shri Hemendra Kumar, the then Special Secretary (A&C) for his active participation and guidance in the promotion of horticultural development programme as well as in organizing the Seminar. The Editors are highly thankful to Dr. G. Kalloo, Deputy Director-General (Hort.), ICAR, New Delhi, for his close involvement in promoting hi-tech horticultural research in the country in general and for his active participation in the Seminar. The Editors are deeply indebted to all the Resource Speakers for their valuable contribution without which it would not have been possible to bring out this publication. Finally, the Editors would like to thank one and all who have contributed directly or indirectly in bringing out this publication.

PRECISION FARMING

1. Hi-tech horticulture and precision farming: issues and approaches 1

H. P. Singh

2. Perspective of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming 21

Jose C. Samuel and H.P. Singh

3. Remote sensing and GIS as a tool for precision farming in horticulture sector in India 35

J.S. Parihar, S. Panigrahy and Ashvir Singh

4 Site-specific nutrient management for high yield and quality of fruit crops 45

K.N. Tiwari

5. Land and nutrient management in precision farming 55

H.S. Chauhan

6. Cultivation in hi-tech greenhouses for enhanced productivity of natural Farming 64 resources to achieve the objective of precision farming

Pitam Chandra and M.J. Gupta

7. Strategic approaches of precision technology for improvement 75 of fruit production

V. K. Singh and Gorakh Singh

8. Approaches and strategies for precision farming in guava 92

Gorakh Singh, Shailendra Rajan and A.K. Singh

9. Precision farming of banana in Maharastra 114

V.R. Balasubrahmanyam, A.V. Dhake, K.B. Patil, Prosenjit Moitra and S. Daryapurkar

10. Approaches and strategies for precision farming in mango 124

Shailendra Rajan and Gorakh Singh

11. Integrated approaches in management of mango diseases 145

Om Prakash

12. Approaches and strategies for precision farming in papaya 164

A.K. Singh and Gorakh Singh

13. Approaches and strategies for precision farming in aonla 176|

R.K. Pathak, D. Pandey, Gorakh Singh and Dushyant Mishra

14. Precision farming in onion 192

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

15 Scope of fertigation in hi-tech horticulture 198

Ashwani Kumar and H.P. Singh

16. Automation in hi-tech horticulture for efficient resource management 214

T.B.S. Rajput and Neelam Patel

17.Hi-tech nursery with special reference to fruit crops 226

Gorakh Singh and Anju Bajpai

18. Genetic engineering: A strategic approach for hi-tech horticulture 239

Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria and Ramesh Chandra

19.Micropropagation for production of disease-free planting material 253

Ramesh Chandra and Maneesh Mishra

20.Acclimatization of horticultural crops: concept and approaches 261

Anju Bajpai, Gorakh Singh and Ramesh Chandra

21.Approaches for green food production in horticulture 275

R.K. Pathak and R.A. Ram

22.

Mahendra Singh and Ajit Kumar

PROCEEDING

23. Proceedings of National Seminar-cum-workshop on Hi-tech Horticulture 304 and Precision Farming, Lucknow, 26 - 28 July 2002

Appendix 1 324

Appendix 2 330

Appendix 3 338

Addresses of Authors 348

About the Editors 352

Diversified agriculture support project : approaches in promoting hi-tech horticulture 295

1

HI-TECH HORTICULTURE AND PRECISION

FARMING : ISSUES AND APPROACHES

The current scenario of horticulture exhibits growth rate of 6.9 per cent during the decade, and horticulture sector is expected to play a pivotal role in diversification of agriculture aimed at employment led growth. The past interventions have proved beyond doubt that horticulture is one of the best options for improving productivity of land, generating employment, improving economic condition of farmers and above all providing nutritional security. Working Group constituted by the Planning Commission for the development of horticulture during X Plan has estimated that more than Rs 35,000 crore private investment and 180 crore mandays of employment would be possible through systematic development of horticulture. In our persuit to achieve the growth rate of 4 per cent in agriculture, the horticulture sector has to grow at the rate of about 7 per cent annually. Thus, the potential which exists in the country, has to be harnessed in a systematic manner. Horticulture sector includes fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, medicinal plants and plantation crops and contributes 24.5 per cent to GDP from an area of 8.5 per cent, and has significant contribution to export. Attention to the development of horticulture was put adequately in VIII Plan, by increasing the plan investment to Rs 1,000 crore from Rs 25 crore in VII Plan. In IX Plan, allocation was to the tune of Rs 1,453 crore. These investments have been rewarding in terms of increased production and productivity. Now, horticulture sector in the country, despite its numerous challenges and shortcomings is in crucial phase of development. The trend of growth and achievements have been referred as Golden Revolution.

Keeping in view, the growth potential of horticulture and to sustain the development, Government of India has given a focussed attention to horticultural

Keynote address delivered by Dr. H.P. Singh, Horticulture Commissioner, Government of India and Member-Secretary, National Committee on Plastics Application in Horticulture, in National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Hi-Tech Horticulture and Precision Farming, 26-28 July 2002, Lucknow

Precision Farming in Horticulture

development in X Plan also with an allocation of about Rs 4,500 crore, including macro management. The initiatives, which were taken during the IX Plan are Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in North-Eastern Region, Human Resource Development and an area- based approach for the Integrated development of horticulture in hills and tribal region. Programmes of National Horticulture Board have created an impact in infrastructural development for post-harvest management. A technology mission on coconut, besides the programme of Coconut Development Board was also initiated to address emerging issues. In the process of development many issues have emerged needing attention. These issues are addressed through programmes with focussed attention on productivity enhancement and quality assurance. Besides, the programme initiated during IX Plan and continued in X Plan two new initiatives, Hi-tech horticulture through precision farming and technological interventions for sustainable development of horticulture shall be taken up during X Plan. All these efforts are expected to provide enhanced employment and increased private sector investment, having an environment for the development of horticulture.

In the era of open economy, it has become increasingly necessary that our produce is competitive, both in the domestic market and exports. This demands infusion of technology for an efficient utilization of resources for deriving higher output per unit of inputs with excellent quality of produce. This would be possible only through deployment of modern hi-tech applications and precision farming methods. The National Agriculture Policy has stipulated the application of these interventions for the holistic development of horticulture. The Planning Commission has also attached great importance to this aspect and had asked the Working Group on Horticulture for Tenth Plan to have detailed deliberations on the issue for drawing out implementable programmes.

Hi-tech horticulture is the deployment of modern technology which is capital

intensive, less environment dependent, having capacity to improve the productivity and quality of produce. On the other hand, Precision farming involves the application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of horticultural production for improving crop performance and environment quality. Precision farming calls for an efficient management of resources through location-specific hi-tech interventions. Hi-tech horticulture encompasses a variety of interventions such as microirrigation, fertigation, protected/greenhouse cultivation, soil and leaf nutrient-based fertilizer management, mulching for in-situ moisture conservation, micropropagation,

biology for germplasm, genetically-modified crops, use of biofertilizers, vermiculture, high-density planting, hi-tech mechanisation, green food, soil-less culture, biological control etc. Utilisation of these interventions orchestrated together having the aim of

achieving higher output in given time period leads to precision farming, which is largely a knowledge driven. HI-TECH

HORTICULTURE Initiatives for hi-tech horticulture, through promotion of m i c r o i r r i g a t i o n , micropropagation, high-density planting (Fig. 1), hybrid seeds etc. were taken

through plan schemes of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry

Table 1. Theoretical potential for drip irrigation

(Area in million ha)

Fig. 1. High-density planting in guava

Crop Area Area suitable for microirrigation

Cereals and millets 100.4 00.00

Pulses 22.50 00.00

Sugarcane 4.10 4.10

Condiments and spices 2.19 1.40

Fruits 3.40 3.40 Vegetables 5.30 5.30 Coconut 1.90 1.90 Oilseeds 26.20 1.90 Cotton 9.00 9.00 Others 1.40 00.00 Total 176.39 27.00

of Agriculture, which have paved the way for achieving higher productivity through the efficient utilisation of resources. Microirrigation, an efficient method of providing irrigation water directly into soil at the root zone of plants, permits the water to consumptive use of plants and facilitate utilisation of water-soluble fertilizer and chemicals. To tap the potential, which exists (Table 1) motivation of farmers, ensuring availability of material, technical support and credit availability mechanism are essential. Since, the system of irrigation saves water, increases the yield and quality of produce and helps in achieving vertical growth, Government of India has given due attention. A centrally sponsored scheme on Use of Plastics in Agriculture with an outlay of Rs 250 crore was launched in VIII Plan. Water being a critical input for agriculture and keeping in view the increasing demand on the same from various sectors, an amount of Rs 200 crore was earmarked for promoting efficient method of irrigation through drip/microirrigation in the country. Initially higher rate of assistance was provided which was reduced in IX Plan (Table 2) to have more participation of beneficiaries. For demonstration of this technology assistance is provided. Due to the focussed attention and support,

Table 3. Coverage of area under drip irrigation

Table 2. Pattern of assistance for microirrigation during IX Plan State

category

Maximum ceiling for small, marginal, SC, ST and women farmers (Rs/ha) (50% of cost) for a crop spacing of 1.5 m x 1.5 m

Maximum ceiling for other category farmers (Rs/ha) (35% of cost) for a crop

spacing of 1.5 m x 1.5 m. A 22,500 16,000 B 26,000 18.200 C 28,500 20,000 Coverage (ha) Period Target Achievement VIII Plan 107044 128444 1997-98 30425 45151 1998-99 43151 53017 1999-2000 38833 45676 2000-01 6747 13422 Total 226200 285710

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

there has been larger adoption of the technologies and achievements have been higher than the targets (Table 3). On an average about 45,000 ha are being brought under drip irrigation annually under horticultural crops, as a result India has now emerged as one of the leading countries in using microirrigation technology. The growth of microirrigation in India in comparison to other countries has been significant at 196 per cent. About 22 per cent of the area brought under microirrigation has been under coconut, mainly on account of more water requirement of the crop (100 litres/plant/day) as well as the less investments required on account of its wider spacing (7.5 m x 7.5 m). A substantial area has been brought under miscellaneous crops like grape, banana, papaya, strawberry, guava etc. Other crops covered are mango, pomegranate, citrus, capsicum and tomato. However, regional imbalance in use of drip irrigation is seen, as large area has been covered in a few states. The major beneficiaries of the programme are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil

Nadu.

Greenhouse

Greenhouse, which provides protection to crop and create environment for growing crop out of season also received due attention in the above scheme. During VIII Plan assistance was provided for construction of different

types of greenhouses covering Fig. 2. A view of greenhouse-growing gerbera

Fig. 4. Calla lily growing under greenhouse Fig. 3. Orchids growing under shade of net house

low-cost, medium-cost and high-cost greenhouses (Figs. 2-6). Assistance was continued in IX Plan with an outlay of Rs 53.06 crore for covering larger area under greenhouses. The programme has helped in generating awareness about the importance of greenhouses and enhancing productivity and production, particularly of horticultural crops having superior quality of produce. About 500 ha was brought under greenhouses since inception of the scheme. The major share has been in the Leh and Ladakh Region of Jammu and Kashmir where commercial cultivation of vegetables is being promoted. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and the North-Eastern states have also brought significant area under greenhouses. Although protected cultivation of horticultural crops was new in the first part of nineties, but through the efforts it has been possible to create awareness among farmers. Even small-scale growers of flowers and vegetables are keen to adopt protected cultivation for achieving higher yield per unit area having excellent quality of produce. However, to make this technology more farmer-friendly much more is requited to be done for its efficient utilisation. Package of practices for growing of different crops under greenhouse is required to be standardised.

Mulching

Plastic mulching has proved its efficacy in conserving moisture and enhancing yield and quality of produce, thus, it was promoted. Assistance for promoting plastic mulching was provided @ 50% of cost subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs 7,000/ha for a maximum of one ha per beneficiary. An area of about 3,000 ha was covered under plastic mulch. However, this intervention has been adopted

Fig. 5. Hi-tech production of capsicum under a greenhouse

Fig. 6. A commercial unit of anthurium grown in pots under greenhouse

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

only for a few high-value crops and need promotion to extend its adoption in a number of crops.

Demonstration of this innovative technique has been considered important to convince farmers about its economics. Therefore, one of the programmes implemented has been on demonstration of plasticulture application like microirrigation, greenhouse and mulching. The demonstrations are done both on farmers’ fields and on the farms of SAUs and Government. In farmers’ participatory demonstration assistance has been proved for an area of 2 ha for microirrigation and an area of 500 m2 _{for greenhouse. For laying drip irrigation}

demonstration, the assistance is @ 75% of unit cost for different spaced crops subject to a maximum of Rs 34,000/ha. Similarly, for mulching the assistance is restricted to 75% of the cost, i.e. Rs 10,500/ha for plastic mulching. These demonstration have succeeded in creating an awareness for the use of this innovative technology.

The success of any programme depends upon refinement of technology in regionally differentiated manner as per the local needs. Therefore, to have technological refinement and capacity building, programmes were initiated through

Table 4. Location and year of establishment of Plasticulture Development Centres Name and Location of PFDC Year of establishment Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, W.B. 1985-86 Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, T.N. 1985-86 Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 1986-87 University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore 1986-87 Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Maharahtra 1986-87 N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 1987-88 Orissa University of Agric. & Technol., Bhubanewswar 1987-88 Rajasthan Agric. University, Bikaner, Rajasthan 1987-88 G.B. Pant University of Agric. & Technol, Pantnagar 1987-88 Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam 1988-89 Gujarat Agricultural University, Navasri, Gujarat 1988-89 Rajendra Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar 1995-96 Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar, Haryana 1995-96 Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, H.P. 1995-96 Kerala Agricultural University, Tavanur, Kerala 1995-96 Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishva Vidyalaya, Raipur, M.P. 1995-96 Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), Lucknow 2001-02

network of Plastic Development Centres (PDCs), established in different agroclimactic conditions, which also serve as a nodal centre for all the information. These centres were established in different Plan periods. Currently there are 17 centres working on these interventions (Table 4). Considering the importance of the centre and its focus, these centres have been redesignated as Precision Farming Development Centres (PFDCs) with effect from 2001-02. One of PFDCs, was established at CISH, Lucknow, during 2001-02. The activities of these PFDC are : evaluation of crop water requirement and cost : benefit analysis of drip irrigation as compared to traditional practices for different (horticultural) crops; modification of crop geometry to minimise the cost of drip irrigation for different (horticulture) crops and evaluation of different systems in relation to efficacy and cost effectiveness; survey of drip irrigation for verifying the adaptability and farmers' reaction in the areas under the

jurisdiction of PFDCs and modification, if any, in technology for better adaptability; design and development of greenhouses including development of package of practices for cultivation of flowers and vegetables under various agroclimatic conditions; studies on year round utilization of greenhouses to maximize returns and use of greenhouses for propagation

of horticultural crops; studies on use of low tunnels for raising suitable crop of the region; evaluation and cost : benefit analysis of plastic mulching as compared to traditional practices for different crops, also assess the efficacy of hair net and other application; organising training programme for state officials and farmers and interact for promotion of the technology.

Microirrigation

These PFDCs have successfully worked out regionally differentiated technology for adoption of microirrigation for a large number of crops important in the region and have provided technological support through capacity building. These centres have functioned as a major link in the promotion of this technology.

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

The experiments have clearly demonstrated the savings in water and yield enhancements (Fig. 7 and Table 5). The PFDCs have successfully demonstrated the off-season cultivation of vegetables like capsicum, cauliflower, tomato, cucumber, chilli and cabbage; flowers like chrysanthemum, rose, lilium and carnation. The experiments on mulching at different PFDCs have established that mulching results in 40-50 per cent saving of water, 20-25 per cent increase in yield and suppression of weed up to 90 per cent. The use of both drip irrigation and mulching has been found very useful and has resulted in further saving of water, increase in yield and weed suppression. The PFDCs have been organising training programmes for the farmers as well as officials. So far, 188 programmes for farmers and 152 training programmes for officers have been conducted in which 5,753 farmers and 2,960 officials have been trained.

The Working Group on Horticulture, from its critical analysis of strength, weakness, opportunity and threats concluded that adoption of hi-tech interventions for improving the productivity and quality of horticultural crops is inevitable.

Table 5. Water saving and yield enhancement due to microirrigation

Yield (q/ha) Irrigation (cm) WUE (q/ha/cm) Advantaege of MI (%) Crop

Surface Drip Surface Drip Surface Drip Surface Drip Beet root 5.70 8.80 86.00 18.00 0.07 0.50 79.10 56.10 Bitter gourd 32.00 43.00 76.00 33.00 0.42 1.30 56.60 34.40 Brinjal 91.00 148.00 168.00 64.00 0.55 2.30 61.90 62.60 Broccoli 140.00 195.00 70.00 60.00 2.00 3.25 14.30 39.30 Cauliflower 171.00 274.00 27.00 18.00 6.30 15.20 33.30 60.20 Chilli 42.30 60.90 109.00 41.70 0.39 1.50 61.70 44.00 Cucumber 155.00 225.00 54.00 24.00 2.90 9.40 55.60 45.20 Okra Onion 284.00 342.00 52.00 26.00 5.50 13.20 50.00 20.40 Potato 172.00 291.00 60.00 27.50 2.90 10.60 54.20 69.20 Radish 10.50 11.90 46.00 11.00 0.23 1.10 76.10 13.30 Sweet potato 42.40 58.90 63.00 25.00 0.67 2.40 60.30 38.90 Tomato 61.80 88.70 49.80 10.70 1.24 8.28 78.50 43.50 Banana 575.00 875.00 176.00 97.00 3.27 9.00 45.00 52.20 Grape 264.00 325.00 53.00 28.00 5.00 11.60 47.20 23.10 Papaya 130.00 230.00 228.00 73.00 0.60 3.20 67.90 76.90 Pomegranate 34.00 67.00 21.00 16.00 1.62 4.20 23.80 97.00 Watermelon 82.10 504.00 72.00 25.00 5.90 20.20 65.30 513.9

Although substantial progress has been made in plasticulture intervention, there are other areas of hi-tech horticulture like genetic engineering, micropropagation, fertigation, use of biofertilizers, green food, hi-tech mechanization, soil-less culture, biological control etc. needing appropriate attention for its promotion to achieve higher output from unit land in given environment.

Quality Seed and Planting Material

Fig. 8. 1, Micropropagation of banana in-vitro; 2, A stand of banana in-vitro plants; 3, A bunch from in-vitro plant.

1

2

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

Quality seeds and plants determine the effectiveness of inputs and assume more significance when investment on input is increasing. Besides higher yield potential, the cultivar must have to have high nutritional quality, resistance to diseases and appropriate shelf-life. Thus, besides use of hybrids, there is a need to have paradigm shift in the perceptions of the farmers from production (total quantity) to productivity (quantity/unit area) to profitability (quality/unit area/ unit time/man). The solution to many of the above issues lies in developing and adopting newer techniques to boost productivity in an eco-friendly way. The use of transgenics is one of the approaches. Micropropagation is most widely used commercialized global application of plant biotechnology in horticulture. A large number of plants are being cloned and exploited commercially worldwide. Micropropagation is well-known as a means of producing millions of identical plants ('clones') under aseptic conditions, in a relatively short period of time, independent of seasonal constraints. An added advantage is production of pathogen-free planting material. Propagation of plants through tissue culture, including meristem culture and molecular indexing of diseases, are of immense use in making available healthy propagaules. Besides its several uses, micropropagation is also applied advantageously to national and international germplasm conservation and exchange, obviating quarantine-related problems.

Global biotech business is estimated at around 150 billion US dollars. The annual demand of in-vitro plants continues to grow at the rate of 15 per cent. The Government of India identified micropropagation of plants as an industrial activity under the (D&R) Act of 1951, made effective in 1991 and several subsidies and incentives were offered. Large scale promotion of this technology was taken up during the VIII plan under the centrally sponsored scheme on Integrated Development of Horticulture. Under this scheme assistance was provided for establishing tissue culture labs under public and private sectors. The tissue culture units established in public sector have only done demonstrative work. Large scale multiplication has not been a reality. However, these interventions have succeeded in creating demand for in-vitro plants of a large number of crops. Convincingly,

in-vitro propagated plants especially in banana (Fig. 8), strawberry and many

other ornamental crops have become a commercial reality. In the process many problems including freeness from disease have been identified which need to be addressed.

taken up by smaller entrepreneurs in the already existing commercial laboratories. To commercialize a highly technology-driven venture, several aspects need to be analyzed before embarking on a large-scale production especially since the industry deals with a product that is highly perishable, i.e. live plant. Moreover, there is a need to promote this technology for production of planting material. Considering high capital investment and long gestation period, moratorium period on the industry has to be increased. Technological infusion, facilitatation in terms of electricity and promotion to create market would be essential to harness this technology for the development of horticulture.

Fertigation

Fertigation offers the best solution for intensive and economical crop production, where both water and fertilizers are delivered to growing crops through drip irrigation system. Fertigation provides essential elements directly to the active root zone, thus minimizing losses of expensive nutrients, which ultimately helps in improving productivity and quality of farm produce. Moreover, fertigation ensures higher and quality yield along with savings in time and labour which makes fertigation economically profitable. The experiments have clearly demonstrated that through fertigation 40-50 per cent of nutrients could be saved which is otherwise wasted. This has been already experienced by a large number of farmers in grape, pomegranate and banana (Fig. 9). Fertigation is ideally suited for hi-tech horticultural production systems since it involves not only the efficient use of the two most precious inputs, i.e. water and nutrients but also exploits the synergism of their simultaneous availability to plants.

Though fertigation has found widespread use in plantation and horticultural Fig. 9. Hi-tech production of banana using

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

crop production in India, its use is mainly confined to cut flower production under polyhouse and some field production of fruit crops. Significant yield response is possible if drip irrigation is practised along with fertilizer. One of the reasons for limited adoption of fertigation despite savings of fertilizer is attributed to non-availability of water-soluble fertilizer at affordable cost. Imported water-soluble NPK fertilizers are costly thus savings are not compensated in terms of cost. Therefore, fertilizer policy has to adequately addresses the water-soluble fertilizer rationally, to encourage its use, which shall save 40-50 per cent nutrient and also safeguard against pollution. Policy has also to be backed by appropriate technologies to achieve higher productivity of different horticultural crops. Polyhouse cultivated cut flower industry is totally dependent on fertigation for its water and nutrient supply but the problem is the cost of nutrients. This affects the competitiveness of the industry. Imported liquid fertilizers or water-soluble fertilizers are invariably supplied as NPK complexes and freedom to choose required ratios is very limited. The grape, pomegranate and banana growers in Maharashtra have also adopted fertigation to some extent and the cost of water-soluble fertilizers is becoming a limiting factor. Therefore, to encourage fertigation conducive policy environment has to be created in terms of production of soluble fertilizer in such a manner that the savings made in fertilizers is not neutralized by cost.

Biofertilizers

Addition of inorganic fertilizers constitutes one of the most expensive inputs in agriculture. It is energy intensive and its excessive use in commercial horticultural crops like banana, grape, mango, papaya, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, and ornamental crops is detrimental to soil health besides the risk of pollution. Nitrate in groundwater is becoming a health concern in intensively cultivated areas. Thus, harnessing the potential of biofertilizer is essential. Under these circumstances, use of cost-effective and eco-friendly biofertilizers with suitable integration of organic manure will restore the soil health and keep the soil productive and sustainable. The nitrogen-fixing organisms associated with horticultural crops are Rhizobium spp. which live in symbiotic relationship with leguminous plants and free-living fixers belonging to Azotobacter family and

Azospirillum species, which live in association with root system of crop plants.

Several soil bacteria, particularly those belonging to the genera Pseudomonas and Bacillus and fungi belonging to the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus possess

the ability to bring insoluble phosphates in soil into soluble forms by secreting organic acids such as acetic, formic, propionic, lactic, glycolic, fumaric and succinic acids. These acids lower the pH and bring about dissolution of bound form of phosphate. Some of the hydroxy acids may chelate with Ca and Fe resulting ineffective solubilisation and utilization of phosphates by crops.

Use of VAM

Mycorrhizal fungi are the most common fungal association among angiosperms. The vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) are formed by the n o n - s e p t a t e

phycomycetes fungi belonging to the genera

Glomus, Gigaspora,

Acaulospora and

Sclerocystis in the family

Endogonaceae of the order Mucorales. They produce vesicles and arbuscules inside the root system. Arbuscules are highly branched fungal hyphae while vesicles are bulbous swellings of

these hyphae. These VAM fungi are beneficial to plants which they colonise. They make more nutrients available to the plant, improve soil texture, water-holding capacity, disease resistance and help in better plant growth. Besides, mycorrhizae are also helpful in the biological control of root pathogen. Thus, this need to be harnessed suitably depending upon the soil type and crops.

Vermiculture

Harnessing earthworms as versatile natural bioreactors is vermiculture. The processes of composting organic wastes through domesticated earthworms under controlled conditions is vermicomposting. Earthworms have tremendous ability to compost all biodegradable materials. Wastes subjected to earthworm consumption decompose 2-5 times faster than in conventional composting. During composting the wastes are de-odourised, pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed and 40-60 per cent volume reduction in organic wastes takes place. This technology

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

depends on the feeding, species of worms are voracious feeders and prolific breeders (Fig. 10). They are also surface dwellers, organic matter feeders and surface casters. These worms feed on partially decomposed organic matter. Their digestive tracts act as grinding mills converting the wastes into granular aggregates, which are egested as worm cast. It is estimated that the earthworms feed about 4-5 times their own weight of material daily. Thus, one kg of worms decompose approximately 4-5 kg of organic wastes in 24 hours.

Many of the operations needed in production, harvesting and post-harvest managements are done manually or with use of small implements which not only reduces the efficiency of human resources but also have impact on quality and cost of production. Thus, there is a scope to introduce variety of hi-tech mechanisation operation in horticulture for activities like nursery management, transplantation of floricultural plants in greenhouses as well as other plants, harvesting, transporting, grading and packing operations. This will help in reducing the post-harvest losses besides preserving the quality of the produce.

Organic Farming

Organic farming, holistic production management system, promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity and lead to production of green food. The organic production system is designed to enhance biological activity within the whole production system, increase soil biological activity, maintain long-term soil fertility duly relying on renewable resources in the locally organized agricultural systems. In this system the farm is the unit for development requiring documentation of soil characters, water quality, climatic conditions, availability of organics and maintenance of records. Without adequate organic matter content, soil gets poorer due to reduced nutrient and water-holding capacity. Deteriorated structures and the associated problems by air and water cause soil erosion. Adoption of organic farming is also a way for sustainability. Demand for green food is on increase and harnessing the potential of organic farming which address soil health, human health and environmental health is considered of greater significance. In last few years, organic farming has attracted many farmers across the country and many farmers have experimented in successfully. To achieve the large goal of sustainable production and minimise the use of chemical, use of biological agents, recycling of nutrients, harnessing solar radiations etc. have to be restored in eco-friendly manner.

With growing urban population and pressure on land use of farm waste or substrate like cocopeat, rock wool, gravel, sand, saw dust, groundnut and paddy husk, vermiculite, perlite would be an option to grow fresh vegetables and flowers. Media constituent like cocopeat is successfully used for growing and enhancing yield and quality of fresh vegetables and many flowers. It is already proven that crop grown on cocopeat and rock wool have better growth and development compared to soil grown plants. It has a special advantage due to high retention of water coupled with good aeration because of lesser bulk density and higher porosity. Besides, flowers and vegetables are lighter in weight when grown on these media which is of great significance in exports. Hydroponic techniques using deep flow technique, nutrient film technique is used to limited extent for commercial cultivation of vegetables and flowers.

Biological Control

Biological control is use of organisms to regulate a pest or pathogen below its economic threshold level. It assumes importance in sustainable agriculture and organic farming, and production with reduced cost without chemical residues. However, it has several inherent disadvantages like the availability of natural enemies in sufficient numbers to utilise on a large scale which can be addressed by encouraging commercial insectaries, which can supply quality natural enemies to farmers at a very short notice. The use of commercial nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) is gaining importance all over the world. In India too, private industries are bringing out field compatible formulations. It has been found that using NPVs at early stage brings in excellent control of Helicoverpa armigera on tomato. NPV is further, compatible with Trichogramma egg parasitoids, endosulfan and pheromone traps. These, in turn would constitute an ideal IPM. One of the advantages of NPV is its specificity. However, NPV of Autographa californica Speyer is known to infect several Lepidopterous pests. It is necessary, therefore, to test specificity using restriction endo-nuclease analysis of viral DNA. Safe and sound technologies for IPM in several crop pest situations like tomato fruit-borer and mealy bugs of several fruit crops are available. The private and public sectors presently involved in mass production activities will not be in a position to meet the demand for supplying the biotric agents. There is a need to encourage production units to meet the demand. Biological suppression is a skilled job. The increasing demand for natural enemies combined with inadequate skill for producing, releasing and maintaining of bioagents has to be tackled.

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

Precision Farming

Precision farming is concerned with the management of variability in the dimensions of both space and time. Variability of resources, therefore, is a key factor of precision farming. Any component of production system ranging from natural resources to plants, production inputs, farm machinery and farm operators that is variable in some way, is included in the realm of precision farming. Aspects of precision farming, therefore, encompass a broad array of topics, including variability of soil resource base, weather, plant genetics, crop diversity, machinery performance, and most of the physical, chemical and biological inputs used in the production of a crop. These are closely linked to the socio-economic aspects of production system, because to be successful on the farm, precision farming should fit the needs and capabilities of farmer and should be profitable. Success in precision farming is directly related to how well it can be applied to manage the space-time continuum in production system. The prospects of precision management increase as the degree of spatial dependence increases. However, degree of difficulty in achieving precision management increases as the degree of spatial dependence increases. Similarly, degree of difficulty in achieving precision management increases with temporal variance. Thus, for management parameter that vary spatially, those with high temporal correlations will be more easily managed with precision farming rather than those with large temporal variance. Within a given management parameter, the success to date of precision management is to a large extent determined by the degree to which the spatial variability is temporally stable.

Precision farming would involve the measurement and understanding of variability over time and space. Moreover, the system would use the information generated through surveys to manage this variability by matching inputs to conditions within fields using site-specific inputs. Finally, and most important, this system must provide for the measurement and recording of the efficiency of these site-specific practices in order to assess value on and off the farm. Thus, precision farming is technology enabled, information based, and decision focused. The enabling technologies of precision farming can be grouped into five major categories: Computer, Global Position System (GPS), Geographic Information System (GIS), Sensors and Application Control. Some of the enabling technologies were developed specifically for agriculture and their origins date back more than 20 years. It is the integration of these technologies that has enabled farmers and

their service providers to do things not previously possible, at level of detail never before obtainable, and, when done correctly, at level of quality never before achieved. Availability of contiguous blocks of mono crops and equipments needed for survey, recording and analysis on near real time basis has made the precision farming technologies a reality in developed countries, where farms holdings is large, heavily equipment dependent.

Precision farming in the Indian context is still in its infancy stage. A vast amount of data on various aspects like soil characteristics, climatic parameters, topographic features, crop requirement in terms of consumptive use and nutritional requirements have been generated and instruments needed for recording these parameters are also available. Technology for delivering the required amout of inputs to the crop through fertigation/chemigtation have also been developed in the country. However, application of precision farming as a package in farmers' fields has received little attention, although some aspects of precision farming have been practised. This has been primarily due to lack of awareness about the potential for increasing productivity and improving the quality of produce with minimum use of inputs. Use of in-vitro plants, fertigation and nutrient management based on soil analysis in banana have increased the yield manifold and improved the quality. Use of fertigation in grape coupled with nutrient application based on petiole analysis added with bunch management have increased the yield and quality. There are many other examples wherein a few components of precision farming have been adopted to greater advantages in increasing the returns from the land. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a package based on knowledge of soil environment and crop needs to enhance the efficiency of inputs to get higher output in given time frame.

NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON PLASTICULTURE APPLICATION IN HORTICULTURE (NCPAH)

A National Committee on Plasticulture Application in Horticulture (NCPAH) has been providing support for the overall development of plasticulture in the country. Initially, in March 1981, this Committee was set up as National Committee on Use of Plastic in Agriculture (NCPA) in the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC). The NCPA significantly contributed to the promotion of plasticulture applications in agriculture sector by initiating various programmes. The Committee submitted three reports to the Government. One of the major recommendations of the Committee was to set up 22 Plastic Development Centres

Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming : Issues and Approaches

Table 6. Interventions of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming

(PDCs) in different parts of the country. Consequently, 11 agricultural PDCs, 10 irrigation PDCs and two industrial PDCs were established, based on the recommendations of the Committee. Industrial PDCs were established at IPCL, Vadodra and Central Institute of of Plastic Tools and Equipments (CIPET), Chennai. Agricultural PDCs were established through NCPA at State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), irrigation PDCs through Central Board of Irrigation and Power. Industrial PDC was established by Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL), Vadodra. CIPET was set up at Chennai to provide services for testing of plasticulture product. Considering the role the plasticulture has to play in development of horticulture, NCPA was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture

Sl. No. Item

A. Hi-Tech Horticulture

1. Technology Development & Refinement in Hi-Tech Horticulture 2. Technology Adoption in Hi-tech Horticulture

i) Cultivation of Micropropagated Plants ii) Hi-tech Nursery

iii) High-density Planting iv) Fertigation

v) Hi-tech Greenhouse

vi) In-situ Moisture Conservation through Mulching

vii) Hi-tech Mechanization in Horticulture viii) Green Food Production (ha)

ix) Recycling of Horticultural Waste for Environment Quality Improvement x) Biological Control

3. Technology dissemination in hi-tech horticulture B. Precision farming

1. Technology Development and Refinement in PF 2. Precision Farming Adoption

3. Precision Farming Technology Dissemination i) Training

ii) Seminars/Workshops

C. Support for Precision Farming Development Centres (PFDC) D. Support for National Council for Precision Farming/Apex Body E. Media Support and IT

F. Emergent Requirement

20

in 1993. But CIPET, which provides support for testing was retained and the Industrial PDC at Vadodra were retained by Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC). The programme of industrial plasticulture was phased out but the agriculture Plasticulture Development Centers continued to function under the Ministry of Agriculture. These centres have created significant impact on development of horticulture through plasticulture interventions such as drip irrigation, protected cultivation, mulching and other applications. Agriculture plasticulture has the potential to become a major component of precision farming. A Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Special Secretary (A&C) reviewed the functioning of NCPAH and observed that NCPAH played a major role in promoting plasticulture applications in the country. However, due to non-legal status of the Committee it could not function effectively and faced many hurdles. Keeping in view the mandate for promoting hi-tech horticulture and precision farming there is a need for institutional support mechanisms which can function as promoter and facilitator. National Council for Precision Farming (NCPF) as a registered Society, shall be a better option.

It has been recognised that hi-tech horticulture would play a major role in the horticulture sector in the coming years to improve production and productivity of horticultural crops. Therefore, adoption of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming assumes greater significance. The endeavor would be to address all aspects of development covering technology development, technology dissemination and technology adoption. Special thrust will be needed for hi-tech interventions like micropropagation, hi-tech nursery, fertigation, hi-tech greenhouses, recycling of horticultural wastes, green food production, hi-tech mechanisation and biological control. Refinement in regional differentiated technological has to be done through PFCDs, which will play a leading role. A synergy has to be established to have vertical and hortizontal integration of programmes to achieve desired results in given time frame. The crops where some of the components of precision farming have been practised are banana, grape, pomegranate, capsicum, tomato, chilli, cashew and selected flowers have to be given emphasis for its raplicability.

STRATEGY FOR PROMOTION

It has been realized that adoption of hi-tech horticulture is inevitable to meet the challenge of increasing the productivity levels of horticultural crops with improved quality standards to meet the domestic as well as export demands. Therefore, a central sector scheme on Hi-tech Horticulture through Precision Farming has been proposed for implementation during X Plan. Some of interventions proposed to be taken up under the scheme are given in Table 6.

CONCLUSION

The dissemination of technology on hi-tech horticulture and precision farming have to be addressed through training programmes for the benefit of farmers as well as field functionaries. The focused attention on horticulture since the VIII Plan has enabled the farming commonly to realize the untapped potential of horticulture resulting in increased returns per unit of area. In order to meet the

PERSPECTIVE OF HI-TECH HORTICULTURE

AND PRECISION FARMING

The horticultural production, which has reached the level of 152.5 million tonnes in 2000-01, needs to achieve a growth rate of 6-7 per cent for ensuring an overall growth rate of 4 per cent in the agriculture sector. In the global competition, it has become imperative that our produce is competitive, both for domestic market and exports. This demands infusion of technology for an efficient utilization of resources resulting in higher output per unit of inputs with excellent quality of produce, which is possible only through deployment of modern hi-tech applications and precision farming methods. The National Agriculture Policy has stipulated the application of these interventions for the holistic development of horticulture. Besides, the Working Group on Horticulture constituted by the Planning Commission for going into the modalities of horticultural development during X Plan had recommended deployment of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming for achieving vertical growth in horticulture.

DEFINITION AND SCOPE

Hi-tech Horticulture

Hi-tech horticulture is the deployment of modern technology, which is capital intensive, less environment dependent, having capacity to improve the productivity and quality of produce. Hi-tech interventions in horticulture are not new. The sector, by itself is highly technology driven, needs deployment of modern technologies like micropropagation, microirrigation, protected cultivation, organic farming etc. which require skilled manpower as well as instruments. While the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) have been addressing the research and training aspects of hi-tech applications, some of them are introduced at the farmers' fields by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) since VIII Plan. Prominent among these includes micropropagation, drip irrigation,

green-1 _{Deputy Commissioner (SWC-E), and} 2 _{Horticulture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture, Krishi Bhavan,} New Delhi 110 001

2

Precision Farming in Horticulture

house cultivation, plastic mulching, low tunnels, shading nets etc. The areas of hi-tech horticulture having scope for adoption are fertigation, use of biofertilizer, vermiculture, organic farming, hi-tech mechanisation, soil-less culture, biological control, use of remote sensing etc.

Precision Farming

Precision farming (PF) involves the application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of horticultural production for improving crop performance and environment quality. This would call for efficient management of resources through location-specific hi-tech interventions. Precision farming could be defined as application of a holistic management strategy that uses information technology to bring data from multiple sources to bear decision associated with agricultural production, marketing, finance and personnel. Some of the other terminologies used for precision farming are Precision Agriculture (PA), Site-Specific Farming (SSF), Site-Site-Specific Management (SSM), farming-by-the-foot, Variable-Rate Technology (VRT) etc. A step towards promoting precision farming was taken by re-designating the Plasticulture Development Centres (PDC) as Precision Farming Development Centres (PFDCs) in September, 2001.

PERSPECTIVE

With a view to introduce the concepts of hi-tech horticulture, a new scheme on 'Hi-Tech Horticulture and Precision Farming' is proposed to be launched during the X Plan.

Modalities of Programme Implementation

Efforts of the programme would be to address three major areas, viz. technology development, adoption and dissemination. While the Research Institutions, ICAR Institutions, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and Organizations in private sector having the expertise and infrastructure would be expected to be the key players in technology development and technology dissemination. The application of technology at farmers' fields will be through Nodal Implementing Agencies (NIA) in the States which are in a position to maintain a separate bank account for implementing the programme. At the national level, the overall monitoring of the scheme will be done by the DAC through the National Council for Precision Farming (NCPF). Various aspects of hi-tech horticulture and precision farming are discussed below :

HI-TECH HORTICULTURE

Technology Development and Refinement

Perspective of Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming

technologies like microirrigation, fertigation, greenhouse cultivation, high-density planting etc. are being adopted by the farmers, still there is a scope for refining the technology to reduce the system cost, development of location-specific package of practices, innovative design etc. The industry involved in the manufacture of the system components are mainly concentrating on R & D work for improving the products in terms of quality and strength but it is limited to a small number of manufacturers. In many areas of hi-tech horticulture like micropropagation, green food production, biological control etc. adaptive research are needed for refinement of technology to make it farmer-friendly. Hence, the efforts would be to provide project based assistance to research organizations/ institutions having capacity to do the identified refinement, both in public as well as in private sectors for taking up time bound adaptive research on technology refinement under hi-tech horticulture. The PFDCs, those involved in the development of regionally differentiated technologies on plasticulture, will have to work for hi-tech horticulture to provide research support and precision farming.

Technology Adoption

It would be necessary to provide some assistance as incentives to farmers and others involved in hi-tech horticultural programmes for adopting the proven technologies such as :

Cultivation of micropropagated plants: A number of tissue culture units have been

set up in the country for rapid multiplication of disease-free plantings. The total annual capacity of micropropagated plants is of the order up to 270 million plants. Although, the technology has been standardized for a number of horticultural crops, its cultivation is yet to gain momentum due to high cost of planting material. A committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Assistant Director General (Hort.), ICAR, had gone into various aspects of tissue culture in the country and found because of high initial investments, farmers could not be able to avail the technology for cultivation of micropropagated plants and have recommended for Governmental support for its cultivation. Accordingly, it is proposed to provide assistance mainly for taking up demonstration on cultivation of micropropagated plants. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) would provide support in the form of supply of micropropagated planting material.

Hi-tech nursery: A large number of nurseries have come up in public as well as private

requirement of planting material by the end of Plan is estimated to be about 1,185 million fruit plants. Many of the nurseries, particularly in the public sector have not been functioning at optimum level due to old infrastructure, inadequate trained manpower and lack of financial resources resulting in considerable gap in the demand and availability of quality planting material. Hi-tech nurseries have been envisaged to plug this gap and ensure availability of quality planting material (Fig. 1, 2), for which mostly private sector would be mobilized. The hi-tech nurseries will have state-of-the-art for infrastructure with facilities for greenhouse, microirrigation, quality

testing, water source and equipments for phytosanitary system. The nursery will have the facilities to prepare rooting media for growing seedlings in pots or trays. Facilities for pulverizing, pasteurizing and mixing of root will also be available in such nurseries.

High-density planting: High-density planting is emerging as a useful intervention for

enhancing the productivity of horticultural crops per unit area (Fig. 3). It is being practised successfully in apple in Jammu and Kashmir, banana in Maharashtra and to some extent Fig. 1. Tissue-cultured plants of cashew in pots are ready for

transplanting.

Perspective of Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming

mango in Uttar Pradesh. Technology has been developed for cashew. It is proposed to promote the technology during the X Plan as a package duly integrated with fertigation and other hi-tech interventions.

Fertigation : For intensive and economical crop production, the best solution for higher

productivity is fertigation, where both water and fertilizers are delivered to growing crops through microirrigation system. Fertigation provides N, P, K as well as the essential trace elements (Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, MO and Mn) directly to active root zone, thus minimising losses of expensive nutrients, which ultimately helps in improving productivity and quality of farm produce. Fertigation ensures higher and quality yield along with savings in the time and labour, which makes it economically profitable. Experiments have proved that the system economises use of fertilizer and water ranging from 40 to 60 per cent. This is being experienced by a few progressive farmers. Grapes, pomegranate and banana are still beyond the reach of poor farmers. Fertigation is ideally suited for hi-tech horticultural production systems, since it involves not only the efficient use of two most precious inputs, i.e. water and nutrients but also ensures their simultaneous availability to plants. Though microirrigation has found widespread use in plantation and horticultural crop production in India, fertigation is confined to a few high-value crops. Significant yield response coupled with enhanced quality of produce is possible through hi-tech productivity using fertigation.

The grape, pomegranate and banana growers in Maharashtra have adopted fertigation to some extent. Based on the studies on fertigation carried out on different horticultural crops, using several formulation of water-soluble fertilizers, the advantages of fertigation are summarized as follows:

! By and large at least 20-40 per cent savings in fertilizers could be made, if, fertigation is adopted with water-soluble fertilizers (WSF) due to better fertilizer-use efficiency.

! The water-soluble fertilizers are ideally suited for fertigation as they do not cause any clogging of the system due to high acidic urea and phosphate used in formulation of these fertilizers.

! Frequent and split application of fertilizers through fertigation near the root zone of crops help in reduced leaching and consequently better absorption of nutrients resulting in increased yield by 25-35 per cent besides improvement in the quality of the produce in almost all the crops.

! Keeping in view the NPK requirement of various horticultural crops and several formulations that are available for evaluating their efficacy, fertilizers in the NPK ratio of 1:1:1, 2:1:3 and 1:2:0 are found more desirable as these could be used for majority of the crops by supplementing either N or K wherever necessary through fertigation.

The studies indicate that fertigation holds ample scope for adoption especially in high-value horticultural crops for getting high productivity and quality produce. It would also be cost effective, if type, level, split applications and cost of water-soluble fertilizers are optimized for various crops/regions. Keeping in view the promising results of fertigation in improving crop productivity, it is proposed to encourage fertigation by providing assistance to farmers for adopting the system.

Hi-tech greenhouse: Optimum growth of plant is governed by the availability and use

of natural resources of land, water and sunlight. However, climatic variations often tend to have adverse effect on yield and production of crops. Efforts have, therefore, been on for harnessing these natural resources through artificial means for increasing crop productivity. One such technology is greenhouse cultivation.

Greenhouses are framed or inflated structures covered with plastic material or glass in which crops can be grown under partially controlled environment which is large enough to permit normal cultural operation manually. The size of greenhouse could vary from about 10 m2 _{to a}

few hectares (Fig. 4). Greenhouses of larger size are usually constructed for export-oriented projects

particularly for floriculture. Greenhouse technology was well adapted in Europe and USA by the end of nineteenth century. Presently, China and Japan are the leading

Perspective of Hi-tech Horticulture and Precision Farming

countries. Other countries where greenhouse technology is being widely used are the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Spain and Egypt besides some Arab countries.

Greenhouses are suitable for growing a variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Year-round cultivation even under extreme climatic conditions is possible through green-houses. In addition to temperature control, other benefits of greenhouse cultivation include protection from wind, soil warming and in some cases, protection against insect pests and diseases. In general, greenhouse cultivation could be considered as protected cultivation that enhances the maturity of crop, increases yield, improves the quality of produce and in some instances reduce the use of pesticides. The use of greenhouse technology also reduces the total time for preparation of seedlings and cuttings significantly. Greenhouse is also essential for plant propagation through tissue culture.

Considering the advantages of greenhouse, there is ample scope for increase in area under protected cultivation of high-value flowers and vegetables out of season, both in temperate and tropical climates. However, profitability in greenhouse cultivation will depend upon the choice of greenhouse structure, selection of crops and varieties and production technologies adopted. While the conventional greenhouses are simple structures, hi-tech greenhouses have facilities for controlling light intensity, temperature, and humidity with complete automation system.

The constraint in adoption of greenhouse is mainly the high investment requirement on equipments. Since capital cost is high due to high interest rate and consumers are less attuned to pay higher price for quality greenhouse, cultivation is viable only for one or two crops. However, with growing consciousness for quality, trend of reducing rate of interest on capital and increasing demand for different produce, the viability of this technology is improving. Since the technology has potential of increasing yield by 300 per cent coupled with quality, it needs to be encouraged. The endeavor would be to promote hi-tech greenhouse, which are fully equipped with system to regulate the growth conditions inside the greenhouse.

In-situ moisture conservation : Mulching is a practice of covering the soil surface

around plants to make conditions more conducive for plant growth. Use of dry leaves, straw, hay, stones etc. as mulching material has been prevalent for ages. However, introduction of plastic film as mulch increases the efficiency by improved moisture conservation, increased soil temperature and elimination of weed growth and hence, increase in crop yield. LDPE and LLDPE plastic films are commonly used for mulching. LLDPE black colour mulch films are more popular owing to the twin properties of possible down-gauging and better puncture resistance. Down-gauging leads to the