The Agriculture Consultancy Management Foundation (ACMF) promoted by IE focused on productivity improvements in agriculture. In our experience we found a major problem that impacted production and hence the viability of farming: losses suffered through weeds and pests.
In the crops raised by us at the demo farms in Padappai and Somangalam, we noticed weeds registering lush growth alongside the main crops of vegetables, corn… We had to employ a number of farm hands to pull out the weeds periodically. It did involve costs and efforts.
It was also difficult to understand the nature of the weeds and the specific type of weedicide to target it. The random application of weedicide often resorted to, proved expensive and ineffective. We referred the issue to experts. Unfortunately, we could not get the needed advice. Universities are engaged in research to tackle this problem. But the average farmer is not accessing and using even successful research findings.
There is also increasing concern over the impact of chemicals in tackling the menace of pests and weeds on environmental considerations. Spensa Technologies Inc., a precision agriculture technology company at West Lafayette, Indiana state in the US, has developed a new agricultural electronic insect trapping device, Z-Trap, that automatically detects the number of target insects captured by the trap and sends the data wirelessly to a grower’s mobile phone or computer. It’s a Purdue University discovery in the Purdue Research Park being commercialised by Spensa Technologies.
Z-Trap helps growers choose how to use insecticides more judiciously. This device enables growers to electronically monitor insect populations, lowers labour costs and reduces the amount of insecticides used by growers.
Spensa is part of DTN Technologies that provides support solutions in agriculture, energy, commodities and financial analytics. Ben Brame and Jason Sim, senior executives of Spensa/ DTN, provided information on their innovative insect trap device. Brame stated that they manufacture the traps mostly for the US retailers. They also lease the device to individuals. The company has sold the devices in some European countries, Australia, Brazil…
The executives explained the effectiveness of the trap in dealing with the pest problem and also taking care of the environmental concern. But its cost of around $ 500 would make it unaffordable by small and marginal farmers who dominate Indian agriculture. Brame said that around 30 per cent of the company’s revenues came from such an innovative product like the pest trap. Bulk of the company’s income came from weather-based and crop growth based modelling. The company received a handsome grant from the Gates Foundation to take these products to Africa which suffered from an army of worms infesting the crops: “we are setting up a network of weather stations to study the impact of rains and monitoring the growth of crops. We also study the damage caused by pests. The data helps growers make better management decisions. Such a system can be adapted to India. We can place 100 traps every 50 sq.miles. The company also offers a leasing model,” said Sim.
Apart from the US, Spensa is active in Australia, Brazil and a few countries in Europe. Farm sizes in these countries are large and hence the techniques of the US can be adapted in these. With DTN having much wider businesses spread across the globe, the scope for Spensa has expanded after its acquisition by DTN in April.
Such technology-based products eliminating hazardous chemicals should be welcome in the context of the opposition to chemical pesticides. The concern is cost.
