‘Agriculture innovation offers immense potential for food security’

KARACHI: Agriculture innovation offers immense potential to meet Pakistan’s food security needs considering the rapid expansion of the population and an increasing need to utilise the country’s natural resources, according to a survey report by a leading incubation center.

A comprehensive report on the significance of tech-driven, sustainable and climate-friendly agriculture by the National Incubation Center said the agriculture sector has taken a major setback due to bad governance and policies in the past few decades.

“It is now time to build political momentum in favor of uplifting Pakistan’s agro-economy. Youth-led innovative and disruptive agricultural startups involving use of artificial intelligence, data mining, internet of things, drone technologies and other ICT based solutions, have the potential to transform Pakistan’s conventional agricultural sector into a globally aligned and competitive one,” the report said.

The country is facing various challenges related to water security lack of crop health analysis, research and development, data, farmers education, absence of free market economy and climate change, according to the report the country’s leading tech incubation center formed in public-private partnership.

The right support from the government in facilitating and scaling up these startups is essential for agricultural development, it said. The private sector support is also critical for creating an enabling environment and to lead the transfer of farm technology to raise Pakistan’s agri-productivity and export competitiveness.

While the government and private sector are taking multiple initiatives for the development of the sector, however, collaboration between all stakeholders is essential to bring about change.

The government needs to actively involve agri-based startups on the themes identified in the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Emergency Program. At the same time, financial institutions need to revisit rules to regulate access to credit for agri startups.

There are some 10 prominent agri-based startups operating in Pakistan. Industrial Vision Systems is using artificial intelligence to scan fruits and vegetables through a machine that grades the items and identities defects. Ricult provides a mobile platform to the agriculture industry that farmers can use to procure farm input products, to market their farm products, to obtain credit for working capital management, and to obtain agronomic services from service providers. Bakhabar Kissan is a capacity building platform for farmers, providing them skills, knowledge, tools and expertise in order to optimize their yield.

Radical Growth Solutions is a smart irrigation optimization solution that collects real time data from the field to determine precisely how much water each plant needs and deliver exactly that. The solution is suitable for any farm or crop type. Pak Agri Market is an online matchmaking and marketing platform which brings together all the stakeholders in value chain. Crop Drop is digitally transforming the fresh produce supply chain. AgriLytics is a comprehensive crop statistics generation system.

Aqua Agro offers IoT-based water resource management system to enhance productivity with maximum irrigation water usage efficiency. ‘Trash It’ is a social entrepreneurial venture collects organic waste and uses technology to make nutrient rich compost from it by empowering local communities which is then sold to farmers, home gardeners, and retailers. Qumaq uses drones for surveillance, mapping and land inspection.

“Active collaboration between Agriculture Research Council and startups for research and development, and private sector involvement to allow transfer of technology can accelerate the adoption of modern practices in the sector which can lead to data-driven decision making for optimized land and water utilization, increased yield, and enhanced disease management,” the NIC report said.

“Agriculture across the world is undergoing massive transformation because of digitization, and developing countries like Pakistan, who rely on agriculture as a critical pillar of economic and social growth, need to keep pace with the global megatrends, to remain competitive and fulfill increasing domestic and global demand. This is only possible when all stakeholders step up for collaboration and mutually work for the development of advanced technologies and educate and incentivise farmers on the adoption of these technologies. By adapting global trends into the local agricultural sector, Pakistan can increase the sector’s share to the GDP of the country and not only meet domestic demand but also produce surplus to meet global demand.”