ICAR’s national precision agriculture programme brings together 16 research institutes to improve farm productivity, water efficiency, livestock management and climate resilience

Key Highlight: ICAR’s precision agriculture initiatives are combining AI, IoT, sensors, drones, remote sensing and satellite imagery to deliver location-specific solutions across crop farming, horticulture, aquaculture and livestock.

India is expanding the use of precision agriculture technologies to improve productivity, reduce input costs and strengthen the resilience of farming systems. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has established the Network Program on Precision Agriculture (ICAR-NePPA) as a national programme involving 16 ICAR research institutes.

The programme is developing technologies for crop and soil monitoring, precision irrigation, post-harvest management, protected cultivation, aquaculture and livestock health.

AI and IoT Drive Farm-Level Decision Making

ICAR is developing precision agriculture systems using sensors, drones, satellite platforms, artificial intelligence and ICT tools.

Applications include:

• Sensor-based irrigation and fertigation
• AI-enabled precision planting
• Drone-based crop monitoring and spraying
• Satellite and GIS-based crop assessment
• IoT-enabled environmental monitoring
• Precision nutrient management
• Automated livestock management
• Smart protected cultivation
• Hydroponics and aeroponics
• Agrivoltaic farming
• Precision subsurface drip irrigation

ICAR has also developed a tank-based super-intensive precision shrimp farming system capable of producing 120-150 tonnes per hectare annually over three production cycles, combining automation, biosecurity and resource-efficient management.

Precision Technology Improves Water and Farm Efficiency

Several field applications have demonstrated measurable gains.

In Goa, precision agriculture technologies increased rice yields by 4.69% and cowpea yields by 6.58%, while reducing irrigation water consumption by 92.9% and labour requirements by about 95%.

In other applications, drip irrigation and protected cultivation have reduced irrigation requirements by 70-80%, while hydroponic systems have achieved water savings of up to 90%.

Farm pond-based rainwater harvesting has increased crop yields by 20-55%, while integrated raised-bed, drip fertigation and poly-mulching systems in Bihar improved nutrient-use efficiency by 30-85%.

Drones Expand Precision Input Application

Drone technology is being used for crop monitoring, nutrient application and pesticide spraying.

Drone-based foliar nutrient application has reportedly:

• Increased crop yields by 4-5%
• Reduced spraying costs by around 15%
• Allowed one acre to be sprayed in approximately six minutes
• Reduced water and input requirements
• Improved uniformity of application while reducing crop damage

Through KVKs, ICAR institutes and agricultural universities, 38,402 agri-drone demonstrations have been conducted across 41,280 hectares, with 4,54,083 farmers participating.

Separately, ICAR’s drone demonstrations have covered 230 hectares and benefited 2,487 farmers.

AI Supports Livestock Disease Surveillance

Precision agriculture is increasingly extending beyond crops.

The ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI) uses GIS, satellite data and machine-learning models to forecast outbreaks of 15 economically important livestock diseases up to two months in advance.

Wearable IoT devices such as smart collars, rumination tags and leg pedometers can monitor animal temperature, feeding-related activity and reproductive cycles, helping identify health problems earlier.

According to the government, AI and IoT-enabled systems can detect physiological stress and potential disease outbreaks 5-12 days before clinical symptoms, potentially reducing veterinary expenses by 20-40%.

Smart reproductive monitoring can also improve artificial insemination success rates by 15-30%, while precision feeding and microclimate management can potentially increase milk yields by up to 18%.

Precision Aquaculture Becomes Part of the Digital Farming Ecosystem

The programme also covers fisheries and aquaculture.

AI, IoT sensors, drones and digital systems are being used for:

• Aquatic environment monitoring
• Dissolved oxygen management
• Fish biomass estimation
• Disease and health monitoring
• Feed and medicine distribution
• Fisheries resource assessment
• Automated hatchery management
• Early warning and predictive systems

This integration could help aquaculture operators improve production efficiency while reducing environmental risks and strengthening biosecurity.

Post-Harvest Technology Targets Food Losses

Precision technology is also being applied after harvest.

ICAR has developed systems including AI-based grain analysis, AI-based rice seed quality assessment, sensor-based cold-room monitoring, rapid aflatoxin detection, digital fruit-quality monitoring and blockchain-enabled banana supply-chain traceability.

Such technologies could help improve quality assurance, reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen traceability from farm to market.

Farmer Income and Sustainability Benefits

Field-level results cited by the government indicate that precision technologies can deliver substantial economic and environmental benefits.

In one intervention using solar-powered water systems, farm ponds and micro-irrigation, cropping intensity increased from 137% to 272%, while average monthly farmer income rose from ₹4,644 to ₹19,676.

The same intervention doubled the crop diversification index and reduced dependence on diesel and electricity, while mitigating an estimated 40.5 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.

Protected cultivation combined with automated drip irrigation and fertigation generated net returns of ₹2.72 lakh per 15 gunta, with a benefit-cost ratio of 4.57.

Hospitality and Food Supply Chain Impact

The expansion of precision agriculture has implications beyond farm productivity. Better crop forecasting, traceability, quality control, cold-chain monitoring and resource-efficient production can strengthen the farm-to-market supply chain.

For the hospitality and food sector, these developments could support more predictable supplies of fresh produce, improved food quality and traceable sourcing. High-value crops, aquaculture and specialty produce could also benefit from technology-enabled production systems that meet increasingly stringent quality and sustainability requirements.

Overall, ICAR’s precision agriculture programme signals a shift towards data-driven farming in which technology is increasingly used not only to produce more, but to use water, nutrients, labour and energy more efficiently while improving farm profitability and climate resilience.