Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy contributing 21% to the country’s economic growth and employs around 45% of the nation’s workforce. Besides, it also contributes 60% of the country’s exports. Pakistan, which is particularly susceptible to climate change, has been listed as the 12th most negatively affected country owing to the effects of climate change on agriculture and livelihoods.
Need to introduce Smart Farming
Currently, the recent flooding has affected the agriculture sector adversely. It has been estimated that around 21 million acres of crops across the country have been washed out due to floods and environmental catastrophes. Prior to the floods, Pakistan was already struggling with food prices and now the country has to bear the loss which is equivalent to 3% of the GDP. to deal with these issues, the government needs to develop resilient agri-farming that will help mitigate the disastrous impacts of climate change and other crises. In this regard, smart farming is considered one of the best solutions to increase the sector’s growth.
Smart Farming
Smart farming is the application of intelligent information and communication technology systems, such as sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud-based processes, machine learning, networking, and artificial intelligence (AI). Within the farming system, such technologies improve crop cultivation, livestock farming, and aquatic farming by increasing farm output, gathering weather data, monitoring crop growth, early detection of crop diseases, preventing crop waste through efficient crop harvesting, monitoring livestock behavioural patterns, tracking animals inside and outside of farms, and increasing production of both crops and livestock.
Pakistan’s First Agri-Tech Smart Farm
Earlier the government introduced its first-ever artificial intelligence-based agriculture smart farm. The deployed Agri-Tech smart farm aimed to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to adapt to climate change and help the farmers in taking timely actions. This helped decrease the operational costs while increasing the yield besides other productive outcomes. Due to the ongoing need for technology in the agriculture sector, the Government of Pakistan has announced plans to introduce a smart farm that will help increase productivity by using modern agriculture technologies. This new farm will pave the way for promoting digital agriculture in Pakistan by increasing per acre production which will help eliminate poverty and also ensure food security in the country.
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