Agriculture in Nepal

Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia, bordered by China to the north and India in East, West and South. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plain (Terai), Subalpine forested hills and Mountains.
Agriculture is the major sector of Nepalese economy, It provides employment opportunities to 66 percent of the total population and contributes more than 30 percent in GDP.
Agricultural land area of Nepal increased from 35,670 sq. km in 1969 to 41,210 sq. km in 2018 growing at an average annual rate of 0.30%.
About 25% of land remains uncultivated due to lack of modern farming techniques.

Problems Of Nepalese Agriculture

Traditional Farming
- Nepalese agriculture used traditional methods of farming, agricultural tools are not so advanced.
- Using traditional methods work is very difficult and production will be low.
- Farmers are not skilled in the methods of modern agriculture
Lack of proper irrigation system
- Hardly about 20% of the total land under cultivation has good irrigation facilities.
- Farmers have to depend highly on monsoon rain which is not timely and reliable.
- In winter much of the farm lands remains unused due to the lack of irrigation facilities where as in monsoon landslides and floods excessive rain damage the crop land.
Lack of Agricultural credits
- Farmers need adequate credit to make the investment in agriculture because majority of Nepalese farmers are poor.
- Several Agricultural banks have been established across the Nepal but does not reach out to the majority of the farmers, hence agricultural credits has been a serious problem in Nepal.
Lack of Marketing Facilities
- Most of the farmers are compelled to sell their product at local market or to the middleman due to lack of proper marketing facilities.
- So that farmers receive cheaper price for their product than in market which leads to less encouragement to invest and produce more.
Lack of transport and market
Undemocratic distribution of land
Lack of agricultural research activities

Using Robotics & Satellite Images for Agriculture in Nepal

As we have seen basic agricultural problems facing by Farmers as well as Government on solving these issues.
We can use some robots and satellite imagery system to solve some of these problems and enhance agriculture advancement in Nepal
Now lets, see what Robots, Agribots and Satellite Imagery system is, their uses, and Advantage and Disadvantage of theme.

Introduction To Robots

A robot is a machine, especially one programmable by a computer and capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.
A robots can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within.

Agricultural Robots Or Agribots

An agricultural robot or agribot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes
Agricultural robots is replacing the conventional technique to perform the same task with efficiency
Implementing Agricultural robots has helped farmers to save money and time and made several advancement to industry
There are partially and fully automatic devices for most aspects of agricultural functions from grafting to planting, from harvesting to sorting, packing and boxing
Fruit picking robots, driver-less tractor / sprayer, sheep shearing robots, Weeding, milking animals, planting seeds etc. are some examples of agribots.

Conventional Techniques & Agribots

Conventional techniques depends on human power and old technique
Agribots can work non stop, human need rest
Agribots can work on hazardous environments where as human beings can’t
Argibots can be precise about the task, like detecting presence of diseases, weeds, insects which ma harm agricultural products

Why Is Robots Needed .. ?

Speed : Robots can perform task in much speed than human.
Can work on repetitive tasks
Can work with more accuracy
Can work on different temperature/ climates
Supports multi-cropping practices
Autonomously collect data on plant health
Optimize irrigation and water efficiency

Types of Robots used in Agriculture

Harvesting
Weed Control
Mowing
Seeding
Spraying
Sorting and Packaging
Livestock Monitoring and many more ...

Harvesting Robots

Demeter – Harvesting Robots
- Demeter robot can cut crops without any human supervision
- Demeter has cameras which can detect the difference between crops and weeds
- It can also be driven by remote control or can be taught a path to follow using board sensors and computer control system

Weed Control

The Autonomous Weeder, uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and laser technology to safely and effectively drive through crop fields – identifying, targeting and eliminating weeds

Mowing

A Mowing robots is an autonomous robots used to cut grass, these robots uses wire or battery to operate.

Seeding

Seed sowing robot is a device that helps in the sowing of seeds in the desired position hence assisting the farmers in saving time and money.

Spraying

Agricultural spraying equipment is used worldwide to apply crop protection products, like pesticides. In addition, spray equipment is also used for cleaning or spraying pesticides.
Robots can specify targeted plants to spray then Blanket spraying(Spray on all plants)

Sorting and Packaging

Sorting and Packaging robots are designed to handle materials, move or pack goods, seal and label, among other tasks enabling products to be packaged with consistency, quality, and accuracy.

Livestock Monitoring

Livestock monitoring robots helps on monitoring livestock health status, fields status, or Shepard livestock

Advantages & Disadvantages of using Agricultural robots

Advantages
- Maximum Productivity
- Attracts Young Talent
- Decrease Labour
- Increased Profits
Disadvantages
- Require Technical Expertise
- Costly
- Complex Operations
- Power Supply

Satellite Imagery system

Satellite technology is transforming the way farmers manage crops and livestock, and it might also hold part of the answer how agriculture can adapt to the impacts of climate change – and reduce contributing to it.
Satellite imagery is a means to monitor crops and fields remotely over time.
Satellites have the ability to detect crop conditions over thousands of square meters.

Key Factors of Satellites

Three Key ways in which satellites can support farmers to make efficient, sustainable choices:

Mapping – understanding how large areas of land are used for different types of agriculture.
Measuring – plugging satellite data into complex algorithms to provide measurements on a range of properties, such as yield and crop growth stage.
Monitoring - over time, images enable scientists and farmers to see how land use has developed, or spot changes in rainfall and drought patterns.

Satellite Imagery System

Satellite Imagery system can be used on different field in agriculture. Here are some of them:

Satellite Image for Precision Agriculture
Satellite Image for Remote Sensing
Satellite Image – Role of GIS in Agriculture

Satellite Images for Precision Agriculture
- Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter and intra-field variability in crops.
- The goal of precision agriculture research is to define a Decision Support System (DSS) for whole farm management with the goal of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources.
- It enables the farmer to use remote sensing and on-farm data and complex algorithms that convert them into production estimates to inform input decisions, such as variable-rate fertilizer application rates or optimal watering amounts.
Satellite Image For Remote Sensing
- Capturing images from space can be pretty valuable as a standalone product. Still, these data become incredibly powerful when they are combined with on-the-ground monitoring points.
- This process, known as remote sensing, is where satellite imagery data are matched with ground samples such as weather station data, soil samples, and vegetation surveys to create condition estimates at various spatial scales.
- As a result, we can estimate conditions in locations where earlier no on-the-ground measurement was taken.
Satellite Image For GIS in Agriculture
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools coupled with web resources can assist farmers in conducting crop forecasting
- They can help farmers to manage their agriculture production by utilizing multi spectral satellite images. As we can get the various vegetation soil indices to identify crop stress from these data.
- The ability of GIS to visualize and analyze agricultural environments and workflows is proving very beneficial to stakeholders in the farming industry.
- We can review vegetation and soil index images in Google Earth Pro in the absence of agriculture management software. This way, the regional farmers can identify areas in the fields that require closer analysis.
- They can use these data to decide if additional irrigation or fertilization of the crop is required.

Advantages of Satellite Images in Agriculture

Precision data collection, soil sampling, and data analysis enable localized chemical applications and planting density to suit specific field areas.
Accurate field navigation can minimize redundant applications and skipped areas. It enables the maximum ground coverage in the minimum possible time.
The ability to work through low visibility field conditions such as rain, dust, fog, and darkness increases productivity.
The advantage with satellite images is it is near real-time data and can cover a large area in a short time, Farmers can use satellite data to identify soil and crop conditions and characteristics, monitor growth, assess soil and irrigation requirements.

Disadvantages of Satellite Images in Agriculture

Need High technical manpower
Information gathering and conveying them to actual farmers takes time
Lack of technical knowledge and awareness about advance system in farmers for better utilizing it

Conclusion

As we have seen problems of Conventional agriculture approach and modernizing it with use of robotics and satellite imagery system to minimize agriculture problems.

It could be great impact on agricultural industry if we could start implementing combination of Robotics and Satellite Imagery for advancement on agricultural growth in Nepal.

Robotics in agriculture and satellite imagery system

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