Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
Nabi Bagh, Berasia Road,
Bhopal 462 038
www.ciae.nic.in
Printed : July 2015
All Rights Reserved
© 2015, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
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Foreword
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, since inception in the year
1929, is spearheading national programmes on agricultural research,
higher education and frontline extension through a network of Research
Institutes, Agricultural Universities, All India Coordinated Research
Projects and Krishi Vigyan Kendras to develop and demonstrate
new technologies, as also to develop competent human resource for
strengthening agriculture in all its dimensions, in the country. The
science and technology-led development in agriculture has resulted in
manifold enhancement in productivity and production of different crops
and commodities to match the pace of growth in food demand.
Agricultural production environment, being a dynamic entity,
has kept evolving continuously. The present phase of changes being
encountered by the agricultural sector, such as reducing availability of
quality water, nutrient deficiency in soils, climate change, farm energy
availability, loss of biodiversity, emergence of new pest and diseases,
fragmentation of farms, rural-urban migration, coupled with new IPRs
and trade regulations, are some of the new challenges. These changes impacting agriculture call for a paradigm shift in our
research approach. We have to harness the potential of modern science,
encourage innovations in technology generation, and provide for an
enabling policy and investment support. Some of the critical areas as
genomics, molecular breeding, diagnostics and vaccines, nanotechnology,
secondary agriculture, farm mechanization, energy, and technology
dissemination need to be given priority. Multi-disciplinary and multiinstitutional research will be of paramount importance, given the fact
that technology generation is increasingly getting knowledge and capital
intensive. Our institutions of agricultural research and education must
attain highest levels of excellence in development of technologies and
competent human resource to effectively deal with the changing scenario.
Vision-2050 document of ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural
Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal has been prepared, based on a
comprehensive assessment of past and present trends in factors that
impact agriculture, to visualise scenario 35 years hence, towards scienceled sustainable development of agriculture.
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
We are hopeful that in the years ahead, Vision-2050 would prove to
be valuable in guiding our efforts in agricultural R&D and also for the
young scientists who would shoulder the responsibility to generate farm
technologies in future for food, nutrition, livelihood and environmental
security of the billion plus population of the country, for all times to
come.
(S. AYYAPPAN)
Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE)
and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
Krishi Bhavan, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road,
New Delhi 110 001
vi
Preface
Agriculture would remain important in the livelihood of a considerable
section of India's population for several decades to come even with a
reducing share in the country's GDP. Indian agriculture is beset with
several challenges. Drudgery, natural uncertainties, low productivities,
low profitability, climate change, and low societal standing of farming
profession are all driving the present day youth away from agriculture.
Technology, skills and the policies must lift the weakest farm holder
above the national per capita income threshold. It is in this context that
engineering inputs to agriculture in India have begun to be appreciated.
Farm mechanization, land and water management engineering,
energy management in agriculture, protected agriculture, post-harvest
loss minimization and value addition in production catchments and
knowledge empowerment through ICT have all been found essential
individually as well as collectively for the growth of Indian agriculture
and rural sector.
Tomorrow's agriculture would not be limited to only food,
feed, fibre, and fuel. It would also address to a large number of
other industrial raw materials emanating from agricultural sources.
It would also not be limited to cultivable lands and hospitable
habitats. Technology would enable agriculture to spread its wings to
even inhospitable terrestrial habitats in addition to oceans and space.
Tomorrow's agriculture would be more efficient and less polluting
with societies incentivizing agriculture. Environmental issues including
regulatory regime would be of paramount interest during implementation
of any technical intervention. Greater emphasis would be required on
quality and safety all along the production to post-production value
chain in agriculture. The agricultural industry would be dealing with
more aware stakeholders, be it consumers, producers, processors or other
intermediate functionaries. The demand would not only be for good
quality and safe food but also for similar machines and practices. There
could be huge demand of small instruments for quality evaluation and
traceability determination of food products.
A typical farmer in 2050 would be a well informed and tech- savvy
professional who would have real time information on natural resources
including weather data to precisely plan the production activities utilizing
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
the modern machinery. A significant portion of production activity
whether crops, livestock, or fishery, would be in the form of protected
production technology.
Changing demography would also see a huge change in food
requirements and eating habits. People would turn to healthier and
eco-friendly food and other natural products. Organically produced food
products or products having least carbon footprint will be preferred.
In addition to organic produce, a significant portion of population
might prefer more eco-friendly manufactured meat instead of livestock
derived meat.
Mechanization of majority of farm operations would be influenced by
near unavailability of human labour, higher targets of food production,
need of timeliness of farm operations and economic feasibility of
mechanization. The availability of labour to work in agriculture is crucial
in sustaining agricultural production. The population dynamics of Indian
agricultural workers shows that by 2050, the number of agricultural
workers in the country will be about 202 million (26% of total workers)
of which 60% will be the female workers. Thus, there is going to
be a significant role of farm women workers in country’s agricultural
production and post-production activities. The targets of food production
would be governed by the population growth of India and the world in
broader sense, considering India to be a global supplier of agricultural
commodities after fulfilling its own demand. Land consolidation by sale,
lease or contract would demand mechanization of agricultural operations.
Custom hiring of agricultural machinery will be a common scene by
2050, necessitating the research efforts in direction of developing bigger
machineries and equipment. Custom hiring services will be offered by
corporate sector as a business venture. Implementation of strategies to
alleviate as well as prevent further soil compaction would become an
obligation on heavy agricultural machinery manufacturers by 2050, and
would not be merely looked upon as a responsibility of farmer and the
environmental/governmental agencies. Soil tillage would also be looked
upon as a basic input (like seed, water, fertilizer) to be monitored and
controlled in precision farming.
Agricultural engineering in the coming decades is poised for a
fundamental change in the scope of its agenda. If the evolution of
agricultural engineering in the west is any indication, agricultural
engineering in India would in all likelihood embrace biological,
environmental, food and nutrition engineering for comprehensive
and holistic solutions. Tomorrow's agricultural engineers would not
viii
Vision 2050
only be involved in problem-solving but would be playing important
role in policy formulation and social engineering due to their wider
comprehension. Mechanization of small farms, enhancing input use
efficiency, improvement in water productivity, enhancing energy use
efficiency and reducing energy intensity, reducing post-harvest losses
and ensuring nutritional security and appropriate strategy for technology
dissemination are some of the major challenges that the agricultural
engineering profession would face in coming years/decades. A need
to develop sustainable infrastructure for modernization of agriculture
gives an opportunity for adopting standard operating procedures.
Mechanization/automation would be an integral part of such standards
and therefore, agricultural engineering profession in general and CIAE
in particular has an opportunity to play a vital role in strengthening
the infrastructure.
Developments in other areas of science and technology would
definitely influence the research and developments in the field of
agricultural engineering. Some of the technologies currently considered
as high-end and expensive, would be easily available at affordable cost
and would prove their worth while performing arduous tasks. The
human labour, displaced due to use of technology, would be available
for the service sector and also for some better paid jobs related to
use of advanced agricultural technologies. Mechatronics, robotics,
microbots, 3-D printing, bio-sensors, cloud-seeding, data-cloud,
featured food, fabricated foods, portable energy packs would be some
of the major highlights in the agricultural domain by 2050. New
materials would be required for fabrication of machines, structures
and resource conservation. Advances in material science would lead
to development of hybrid and functional materials based on metals,
non-metals and polymers. Nano-materials and nano-sensors might be
useful in improvement of input use efficiency and real time assessment
of crop needs. Bio processing for food, feed and fuel is expected to
be a preferred method of processing.
The partnerships among academicians, researchers, industries, both
from public and private institutions would rise for mutual growth
and problem solving in efficient, cost effective and time bound mode.
Industry may use the R&D facilities of research institutions and young
human resource of academics for solving of the industry problem.
Timeliness, convergence, integration, and cooperation among partners
would require newer models of social engineering.
The information burst which has initiated now is expected to
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
reach a plateau where authentic and appropriate information would
be available to stakeholders at their fingertips. This will definitely
influence the methods of technology and knowledge dissemination.
The professionals working in the field of pre and post-harvest
agricultural mechanization will have to have adequate skills in variety
of engineering and management streams. Any academia cannot have
knowledge professionals in all these areas and therefore the formal and
informal educational programmes would cut across the geographical and
administrative boundaries. Virtual reality will play a very important role
in knowledge dissemination and also in conduct of research experiments.
Reliable models of agricultural resources like, plants, soil, chemicals, and
environment would be available for ‘insilico’ experiments.
It is in this context that the roles and programmes for agricultural
engineering have been envisaged for 2050. The task of envisioning the
life on the Earth in 2050 is restricted by our flight of imagination.
Therefore, younger colleagues who would still be around in 30s and
40s have played major role in preparing this vision document after
interactions with seniors, subject matter division in the ICAR and
peers. Wherever possible, intuitive extrapolations have been carried out
to build the scenarios for 2050. There is an optimism that agriculture
as an enterprise would be managed by younger and educated mass in
future. Based on this reasoning, certain actions have been identified so
as to facilitate the coming generations of agricultural engineers to realize
the goals and targets for the year 2050. What happens between now
and the year 2050 in this world is full of uncertainties. Therefore, this
vision would be worth the effort anticipating that it remains relevant
in some measure as the world marches to the year 2050.
(K.K. Singh)
Director
ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering
Nabi Bagh, Berasia Road,
Bhopal (MP) 462 038
x
Contents
Message
iii
Foreword
v
Prefacevii
1.Context
1
2.Challenges
4
3. Operating Environment
8
4. Opportunities & Strengths
10
6. Goals and Targets
12
7. Way Forward
13
References
19
Context
I
ndian agriculture today is at cross roads; the country produces
enough and still about 30% of the population does not have access
to adequate food. With increasing cost of inputs and inadequate rural
infrastructure, agricultural profitability is going down. Drudgery,
uncertainty, low profitability, and low societal standing of farming
profession are contributing to the flight of rural youth from agriculture
to non-agricultural pursuits. Under these conditions Indian agriculture
is sure to undergo a transformation. Growth of Indian economy with
higher growth rates in services and manufacturing sectors will also
impact the future of Indian agriculture. How would the scenario of
agricultural development in the country unfold in the coming decades?
How would the agriculture of 2050 be different from the agriculture
today?
At the end of 2014, India’s population is estimated at 1.26 billion
and it is world’s third largest economy (by purchasing power parity)
with GDP of US$7.28 trillion. In the year 2050, India’s population
is likely to be 1.6 billion and the GDP would be US $ 85.9 trillion
(PPP). Today, about 52% of the Indian work force is in agriculture
for its livelihood and by 2050, this would reduce to about 25%. The
contribution of agriculture and allied sectors in national GDP is about
13% at present. As the Indian economy size grows, and the contribution
of non-agricultural sectors increases at a faster rate, the contribution of
agriculture may come down to less than 5% by 2050.
Indian agriculture during the past six decades has gone through
various stages of modernization. Production has increased many-folds to
sustain the increasing population through improved input supply system.
High yielding varieties, fertilizers, agro-chemicals and irrigation were
the forerunners in the input supply management system. Engineering
interventions in agriculture have become essential for reducing the cost
of production and drudgery while improving the livelihood opportunities
and sustainability of income and environment through appropriate
mechanization, post-production technologies and energy management.
Farm mechanization is moving towards a level of maturity pushing
the annual sales of machinery to over Rs. 80,000 crore. In the last
six decades India’s energy use and installed electricity capacity have
increased 16 and 84 folds, respectively (Garg, 2012). Installed capacity
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
of renewable power was reported to be 10.90% (18.15GW) in 2010.
The installed capacity of electrical power in India would be 762 GW in
2030 and 1400 GW in 2050. The renewable fractions (renewable energy
including wind power, small hydro power, bio-power and solar power)
would be 12.9% (98 GW) by 2030 and 12.1% (169) GW by 2050.
The major fields, where the CIAE has made pioneering efforts
during the past three decades and made significant dents, are:
• Design, development, testing and commercialization of farm
equipment for different crops, power sources, farm sizes and agroclimatic conditions; processing technologies for different crops and
scale of operation; solar and bio-energy based gadgets, rainwater
harvesting and on-farm water management practices.
• Incorporating man-machine-environment concept including gender
issues in development of agricultural machines leading to increased
efficiency, human comfort and safety in agricultural operations.
• Development of manufacturing technology and large scale prototype
production to make quality machines available for demonstration
and feedback for refinement.
• Application of computers in design, simulation, analysis and
presentation of data for increased efficacy of research in the field
of agriculture in general and agricultural engineering in particular.
In India more work-force is involved in agriculture, disproportionate
to its contribution in country’s GDP. For most of the developed
nations, the majority of work force is involved in the sector that
contributes more to that country’s GDP (CIA World Fact Book,
2006). This mismatch in Indian scenario is likely to change with time.
With improvement in infrastructure (roads, communication, education
etc.), inclination of rural work force has shifted to more remunerative
job/work opportunities. This has led to diminishing work force in
agricultural sector. This trend is likely to continue till wages offered in
agricultural sector are comparable to other sectors. In such a case, the
potential of agricultural sector to employ work force would be far less
than today. Agriculture service industry has already started providing
solutions/ services to stakeholder and its scope is expected to widen in
coming times. Such scenario would lead to mechanization of majority
of agricultural operations and hence potential would exist for skilled or
semi-skilled farm workers only.
Agricultural modernization during the next four decades is needed
to be visualized in synchronization with changes taking place in other
disciplines of science and engineering. Indian work force in 2050 would
be largely young which would be more receptive to modernization
2
Vision 2050
options. Therefore, it appears that there would be transformation
of present day agriculture into more farmer-friendly, profitable, and
sustainable profession.
Earlier, the institute documented ‘Vision 2025’ and ‘Vision 2030’ to
set short, medium and long term goals for engineering inputs to Indian
agriculture. Majority of the short term programmes, envisioned in the
‘Vision-2025’ document of the institute, have been realized. The Vision
2025 was visualized to address the production and post-production
operations through the intensified interventions of tools, machinery
and processes with some precision. Whereas, in vision 2030, concerns
for climate change, energy availability and profitability were given
importance. However, realizing that research efforts require considerable
time and effort a longer term vision is needed so as to allocate adequate
resources for ‘futuristic’, ‘strategic’ and ‘anticipatory’ challenges leading
to ‘ever green revolution’. Vision 2050 is an attempt to perceive the
socio- economic and technological scenarios in order to prepare a frame
work for engineering inputs in agriculture in the next four decades.

3
Challenges
I
ndia could be the World’s largest economy by 2050 and by this time
the country would have 1.6 billion people. Almost 800 million or
50% of the estimated population would live in urbanized territories.
The contribution of agriculture in national GDP would come down
to about 3% and the work force in agriculture (part time and full
time) would be about 25%, many of these agricultural workers would
have additional non- agricultural source of income to supplement their
needs. Keeping the size of Indian economy in 2050 to be about US
$ 86 trillion, agriculture’s share would be about US $ 2.9 trillion if
agricultural growth rate over the next 35 years is maintained at about
4%.
In this context some general challenges likely to affect the future
growth of Indian agriculture are: the population growth rate, land
fragmentation/ consolidation, land degradation and pollution due to
inappropriate resource management / soil health, technological limits,
frequency of extreme weather events, incidence of devastating crop
and animal diseases, etc. Some of the specific challenges in context of
agricultural mechanization in India and third world are:
Mechanization of Small Farms
The average farm size in India is small (1.16 ha) as compared to
the European Union (14 ha) and the United States (170 ha). Therefore,
there will be little mechanization unless machines appropriate for small
holdings are made available. Due to small size of land holdings, it is
difficult for the farmers to own machinery. As a result, the benefits of
mechanization are enjoyed by only a section of the farmers who have
large farm holdings. Mechanizing small and non-contiguous group of
small farms is against ‘economies of scale’ especially for operations like
land preparation and harvesting. With continued shrinkage in average
farm size, more farms will fall into the adverse category thereby making
individual ownership of agricultural machinery progressively more
uneconomical. Hence a challenge would lie in development and ensuring
availability of quality machines suitable for operating on small farms.
The increased use of heavy equipment and power sources will also
increase the area with sub soil compaction. Other problems arising due
to soil compaction, like water logging, poor infiltration of water, reduced
4
Vision 2050
aquifer recharge rates, further deteriorate the soil health, ultimately
resulting in reduced crop productivity.
Techno-economic feasibility of specialty agriculture such as vertical
farming, hydroponics, soilless agriculture, ocean farming, cultivation in
problematic soils are some of the areas that we need to start addressing
right now so that the shortage of premium land could be addressed to
some extent by 2050.
Enhancing Input Use Efficiency
The green revolution witnessed in the 1960’s catapulted the country
from a “begging bowl to the breadbasket”. We have witnessed the growth
of food grains production from 51 million tonnes in the fifties to 263
million tonnes by the year 2013-14, helping us achieve self-sufficiency
and avoiding food shortages. It is estimated that indiscriminate use of
fertilisers and excessive irrigation have resulted in 12 million ha of land
becoming water logged and 6.7 million ha rendered saline. A problem
of soil erosion due to water is seen on 83 million ha and due to wind
on 11.5 million ha. There is a need to transform our green revolution
into an evergreen revolution which will be triggered by farming systems
approach that can help produce more from the available land, water and
man power resources. The current whole-field management approaches
ignore variability in soil-related characteristics and seek to apply crop
production inputs in a uniform manner. With such an approach, the
likelihood of over-application and/or under-application of inputs in a
single field cannot be avoided which results into higher cost of operation
as well. Development of indigenous and affordable systems and devices
for precise application of inputs is a challenge.
Improvement in Water Productivity
The share of irrigation water would come down due to the
increasing competition from non- agricultural sectors and irrigation
will suffer water scarcity. Water demand for irrigation would increase to
feed an additional 2 billion people of the world by 2050. Lift irrigation
would be limited by the conventional energy availability. At the same
time enhanced pumping would be possible by using non-conventional
energy sources. The challenge lies in achieving and maintaining higher
water productivity in the changing scenario on sustainable basis.
Enhancing Available Energy Use and Reducing Energy Intensity
• Efficient utilisation and management of commercial energy and
substitution with renewable energy sources.
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
• Technologies/redesign machines for alternate energy sources such
as bio-diesel, fuel cells, solar chips, multi-fuel options and portable
energy sources for stationary and mobile operations to reduce carbon
footprint.
Reducing Post-harvest Losses/Ensuring Nutritional Security
• Huge wastage across the supply chain leads to lower level of
processing and hence low value addition. On an average, postharvest losses of the tune of 4 to 6% in durables and 12 to 15 per
cent in case of fruits and vegetables have been documented. The
challenge is in handling of fresh produce after harvest with emphasis
on reducing losses, value addition, maintaining eating quality and
marketing.
• Food safety will be the major concern of the produce industry
and the regulatory agencies. Maintenance and measurement of
quality, especially flavor and nutritional content, and ensuring safety
(avoiding chemical and microbial contamination) is a challenge and
must be the focus of future research and extension activities.
• Demand for new food (organic foods, nutraceuticals, health foods,
age awareness and portion control products)
• There is a need of economically viable technology that can turn this
‘waste’ into ‘worth’.
Economic Focus Shifting from Agriculture to Other Sectors
• Diminishing agriculture workforce (Table 1) is a reality.
• The younger rural work force is getting more inclined towards
non-agricultural sectors which are more remunerative and also offer
an attractive urban life setup. The result is that the average age of
Table 1
Population Dynamics of Indian AgriculturalWorkersfor2050
S. No.
Particulars
2012
2020
2030
2040
2050
1
Country’s population
1222
1323
1432
1520
1612
2
Total No. of workers
504
566
641
711
787
3
No. of workers as % of population
41.2
42.8
44.8
46.8
48.8
4
No. of agricultural workers
240
230
222
211
202
5
% of agricultural workers to total workers
47.6
40.6
34.6
29.7
25.7
6
a) No. of male agricultural workers
132
115
100
84
81
b) No. of female agricultural workers
108
115
122
127
121
c) % of females in agril. work force
45
50
55
60
60
Adopted from: Gite (2014)
6
Vision 2050
workforce engaged in agriculture is increasing. Unless agriculture
becomes remunerative young people will not be attracted to it and
unless young people manage the agriculture, it will not be profitable.
The challenge is to break this paradox.
• Continuously declining contribution of agriculture to national GDP
is worry.
• The challenge for agricultural engineers lies in development of
techno-economically viable agricultural service sector that can give
substantial employment of rural youth and also attract organized
business sector towards agriculture.
Mismatch between Technology Development and Dissemination
• Human resource availability in agricultural engineering to be in
synchronization with developments in advanced sciences (nanotechnology, bio-technology, etc.)
q
7
Operating Environment
A
typical farmer in 2050 would be a well informed and tech- savvy
professional who would have real time information on natural
resources available including weather data to precisely plan the
production activities utilizing the modern machinery. He/she would
have market intelligence to ensure immediate disposal of the produce,
thereby, reducing losses and maximizing returns. A significant portion
of production activity whether crops, livestock, or fishery, would be in
the form of protected production technology. Road map for agriculture
for the next 40 years must be through localised solutions, combining
scientific research with traditional knowledge in partnership with farmers
and consumers. Agricultural machineries would definitely see a major
change in terms of manufacturing materials. Some features of operating
environment through 2050 could be:
• Well informed farmers and tech savvy professional stakeholders.
• Real time information on natural resources, weather data, market
data for precise planning for production activities.
• Some not-so-enabled farmers who would need considerable support
for sustaining the farming activity. Although people would own their
small farms, they would become a part of some sort of cooperative
or corporate plan.
• Synchronization with international developments for reducing the
gestation period of technology development and dissemination.
• Customized solutions in mechanized multi or special purpose field
operations.
• Advanced manufacturing facilities available with agricultural
machinery manufacturers
• Newer methods like 3-D printing will have great influence on
machine prototyping
• Availability of lighter yet stronger material for machine design
• Demand for environmental friendly materials in fabrication of
machines
• Availability of in-silico and physical simulation models for assurance
of quality and safety.
Changing demography would also see a huge change in food
requirements and eating habits. People would turn to healthier and
eco-friendly food and other natural products. Organically produced
8
Vision 2050
food products/products having least carbon footprint will be preferred
over chemically grown food products. In addition to organic
produce, a significant portion of population may prefer more ecofriendly manufactured meat instead of livestock derived meat. From
a technological point of view the manufacturing of artificial meat is
feasible. There could be huge demand of small instruments for quality
evaluation and traceability determination of food products.
Programmes like sub-mission on agricultural mechanization would
have far reaching positive effect on the agricultural mechanization.
This mission is expected to provide assistance for Promotion and
Strengthening of Agricultural Mechanization through Training, Testing
and Demonstration, Post-Harvest Technology and management;
Procurement of selected Agriculture Machinery and Equipment;
Establishment of Farm Machinery Banks for Custom Hiring;
Establishing Hi-Tech Productive Equipment Centres to Target Low
Productive Agricultural Regions and Assistance for increasing farm
mechanization. Govt. of India has now launched a credit-linked subsidy
scheme for establishment of farm machinery banks and hi-tech high
productive equipment hub for custom hiring. Such programmes will
not only promote use of machines but also ensure production of quality
machines in large number at various locations across India. This will
open-up a channel of agricultural machinery export, which is presently
limited to tractor export only. Entrepreneur friendly programmes like
‘make in India’ would attract international manufacturers which in-turn
would help creating a healthy competition and good quality standards.
q
9
Opportunities & Strengths
M
echanization of majority of farm operations will be influenced
by near unavailability of human labour, higher targets of food
production and economic feasibility of mechanization adoption. The
targets of food production will be governed by the population growth
of India and the world in broader sense, considering India to be a
global supplier of agricultural commodities after fulfilling its own
demand. Land consolidation by sale/ lease/ contract etc. would demand
mechanization of agricultural operations. Custom hiring of agricultural
machinery will be a common scene by 2050, necessitating the research
efforts in direction of developing bigger machineries and equipment.
Custom hiring services will be offered by corporate sector as a business
venture. This is likely to open-up more and systematic channels for
contract research and advisory services to the stakeholders and proving
quick solutions to their situational needs. Implementation of strategies
to alleviate as well as prevent further soil compaction would become an
obligation on heavy agricultural machinery manufacturers by 2050, and
would not be merely looked upon as a responsibility of farmer and the
environmental/governmental agencies. Soil tillage would also be looked
upon as a basic input (like seed, water, fertilizer) to be monitored and
controlled in precision farming. Agricultural production activities would
extend to oceans, high mountains, difficult terrains and even space to
overcome the shortage of land for agriculture in relation to the increasing
number of mouths to be fed.
It is anticipated that people’s wish for both good health and
longevity would lead to demand of nutritious and functional food that
promotes their wellbeing, enjoyment, and active life style. Convenient
health foods or foods that impart extra value in the form of health
benefits would have the highest priority for product development in
the food industry.
Some of the vital areas giving opportunities to the profession of
agricultural engineering in India are:
• Rich biodiversity in the country
• Need of innovative small agricultural tools for urban and peri-urban
clientele. There is strong scope of research in manufacturing &
ergonomic evaluation of such tools.
• Demand for comfortable and safe working environment
10
Vision 2050
• Better living standards – people will be ready to pay for the cost
involved in food quality and safety.
• Abundance of solar radiation, fresh water and conditions conducive
for cultivation
• Generation and trade of solar based ‘green energy’
• Access to advanced technology and trade would be better due to
better connectivity and the discipline of agricultural engineering
would be better equipped to take advantage of advances of other
disciplines
• Trained manpower in advanced technologies
• Stronger economy leading to technological leadership
• Advanced technology could be disseminated better due to higher
educational level of the stake holders.
• High potential for strengthening infrastructure for pre- and postharvest agriculture
A need to develop sustainable infrastructure for modernization
of agriculture gives an opportunity for adopting standard operating
procedures. Mechanization/automation would be an integral part of
such standards and therefore, agricultural engineering profession in
general and CIAE in particular has an opportunity to play vital role in
strengthening the infrastructure.
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11
Goals and Targets
T
he ICAR-CIAE would strive to provide research, development and
catalytic support to achieve the following with appropriate inputs
from other stakeholders including governmental and non-governmental
agencies in India:
• Increased farm power availability to 4.0 kW/ha from the present
level of 2.02 kW/ha
• Increased mechanization level to 70% from the present level of 28%
• Increased area under conservation agriculture to 10 million ha for
enhanced soil health from the present level of 4 M ha
• Reduced fatality rate in agriculture to 100/ million workers/y from
the present level of 180/million worker/y
• Gender friendly equipment for various farm operations.
• Increased area under micro irrigation to 40 M ha from the present
level of 5.0 M ha
• Reduced area under temporary water logged vertisols (~2 M ha)
by 50% through drainage technology
• Enhanced renewable energy use in agriculture to 5% from the
present level of 1%
• Provide alternative technology for on farm crop residue management
(open field burning of 90 million tonnes)
• Enhanced energy use efficiency in production and post-production
agriculture
• Higher Energy production from agriculture – 2000 MW from the
present level of 450 MW
• Enhanced food uses of coarse cereals and millets
• Primary processing protocols available for horticultural produce in
the production catchments
• Sustainable availability of well trained and qualified manpower for
dissemination and use of emerging advanced technologies.
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12
Way Forward
A
n attempt to look into future is exciting as well as full of
uncertainties at the same time. The deeper we try to probe, the
more complex the picture becomes. On the basis of the past and present
scenario, a picture of agriculture in 2050 has been constructed where
engineering interventions have been identified. With a view to travel
from today till 2050, a pathway has been proposed with a view that
CIAE will have to play an overarching role in farm mechanization in
the country.
Infrastructure
Both physical and intellectual components of infrastructure need to
be created to sustain the programmes in a way that the goal posts for
2050 are achieved. These include the state-of-art laboratories and the
specialized human resource. The infrastructure together with efficient
operating procedures would create a fertile ground to sustain the growth
for the future. The energy conservation and energy efficiency will play an
important role in the national energy strategy, and particularly renewable
energy will become a key part of the solutions and is likely to play an
increasingly important role for augmentation of grid power, providing
energy access and reducing consumption of fossil fuels. Agriculture is
expected to be more professionally managed commercial venture and
would demand modern infrastructural facilities like transport systems,
reliable means of communication and expert systems, besides ample
energy. Some of the infrastructural facilities are postulated to be:
• Centre of Excellence in Bio Energy
• Centre of Excellence for Precision Farming /Robotics in agriculture
• Agricultural Mechanization Development Centres (AMDCs)
• Farm Mechanization Information/Technology (Expert Systems etc.)
Clearing House
• Centre of Excellence on Pressurized Irrigation
• Skill Development Centres in Agricultural Mechanization and PostHarvest Technology.
Thrust for Cutting Edge Research
In view of the goals and targets set for 2050, a few areas for
cutting edge research have been identified in which the efforts must
13
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
begin now. These efforts would form the foundation for the edifice
planned for 2050.
Mechatronics for agricultural applications would be more common
feature in production and post-production machineries. Robotics and
automation may be in use for complex agricultural operations like
harvesting of non-uniformly maturing crops, tall trees (coconut and
arecanut), interculture operations in closely spaced crops, weeding, etc.
A multi-disciplinary engineering approach for precision in controls,
gender neutral, operator safety, ergonomics, food quality and safety,
environmental monitoring, warning and prevention systems would be
in demand by tech-savvy and alert farmers. Microbots may find place
for cleaning blocked subsurface irrigation conduits, drippers, repair of
leakage, agricultural residue and waste management etc.
Drones may have application for collection of accurate information
about disease/pest attack, loss of crops due to natural calamity, animal
and machinery tracking, cloud seeding, etc.
New materials would be required for fabrication of machine,
structures and resource conservation. Advances in material science would
lead to development of hybrid and functional materials based on metals,
non-metals and polymers. Agricultural engineering research will have to
define the functional requirement of a material’s interaction with soil/
water/food/agro-chemicals/other environmental factors, individually and
in any combination.
Nano-materials and nano-sensors would be useful in improvement
of input use efficiency and real time assessment of crop needs. Nano
paints may find application for increasing life of machinery.
Bio processing for food, feed and fuel is expected to be a preferred
method of processing. Research efforts need to be initiated to find
physical and/or biological alternatives to synthetic chemicals. Even if
these technologies are not economically feasible right now, their time will
come. Indian population depends more on plant based foods; however,
plant-based diets are often associated with micronutrient deficits,
exacerbated in part by poor micronutrient bioavailability. Increasing
bioavailability of nutrients through bio-processing may also result in
lower quantitative demand of food than anticipated.
Biosystems modeling, simulation and amelioration will find a vital
role in future agriculture due to introduction of superior computing
powers, availability of real time reliable data and sensitivity of consumers
to the issues of environmental impact of agriculture. The study of
bio- systems is going to be an extremely important area in future to
determine better ways of living on the Earth. This will also lead to the
14
Vision 2050
realization that both at macro and micro levels, we must seek closed-loop
biosystems with no residual ill-effect on other biosystems. Agricultural
Engineering in future will embrace all bio-systems, environment,
food and nutrition (FABEN Engg.) to provide holistic solutions. The
word ‘waste’ would become wasteful in the context of life sciences &
technology.
Quality and safety of food, agricultural inputs, machinery, energy
and all involved factors would be a serious concern in light of increased
consumer awareness, environmental and social issues. Quality and safety
in all aspects would be treated as complimentary and not competitive.
In light of this, newer method of quality detection, assurance, hazard
identification, warning and prevention have to be developed. Sensor
(physical, chemical and biological) would play a vital role in this and
hence collaborative efforts needs to be concentrated in this area.
Some pin-pointed major programmes and R&D issues, which CIAE
will have to address, could be:
Major Programmes and R&D Issues
Precision Machines
• Variable rate input applicator/dispenser for to real time assessment
of biotic and abiotic stress through sensors
• Application of sensors and mechatronics in pre and post-harvest
agriculture for decision making, control, quality retention and
efficiency.
• Application of robotics for selective harvesting (non-uniform
maturing crops/tall trees), interculture operations in closely spaced
crops, weeding operations and critical food processing operations.
• Use of drones/high resolution satellite data/account localization
techniques for agricultural monitoring of disease/pest attack, animal
and machinery tracking, cloud seeding, local storm prevention, etc.
• Development of methods and machines for retaining and efficient
reuse of water.
• Sensors based in-situ monitoring and management of soil-water-plant
interaction for enhancing input use efficiencies.
• Use of nano materials and nano-sensors for improvement of input
efficiency and real-time assessment of crop needs.
Conservation Agriculture
• Mechanization of controlled climate agriculture.
• Development/adaptation of agricultural machines for efficient use
15
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
•
•
•
•
•
•
of resources, combating extreme climatic conditions, conserving
environment and working in special or difficult terrains.
Variable input applicators based on real-time variability assessment,
e.g. application of inputs like major and minor soil nutrients,
plant growth regulators, plant protection chemicals etc. using same
machine in a single pass.
Development of strategies for water conservation and management
of water under deficit/excess conditions
Design of water harvesting structures for different agro-ecological
zones and recycling through advanced irrigation systems
Improved artificial ground water recharge techniques
Optimization of irrigation and drainage systems design parameters
suiting to changing crop geometry/architecture and problematic soils.
Rapid assessment of soil health.
High-end Technology for Processing & Value Addition
• Pre and post-harvest technology for existing and new crops that are
modified through bio-technology.
• Sustainable post-harvest technology
• Bio-polymers from surplus production
• Eco friendly smart packaging and storage.
• 3D Food Printer
• Instantaneous quality evaluation techniques and devices, like freshness
sensors, bio sensors, etc.
• Fortified/combination analogs of rice, dal, grits etc.
• Extraction of high value compounds from processing by-products
• Technology for meeting demand for new food (organic foods,
nutraceuticals, health foods, age awareness and portion control
products)
• Fabricated functional foods (FFF) based on combinations of
nutrition, therapeutic and sensory preferences.
• Nano technology in clarification, packaging, storage, disinfestation,
preservation, thermal processing etc.
• Laboratory grown products as healthier sustainable alternate foods.
Energy in Agriculture
• Organic solar cells, bio sensors and power packs
• Efficient and feasible compact energy storage devices (particularly
for electricity) will govern its use for mobile energy demands in
agriculture.
• Redesigning the machines to suit alternative energy sources such as
16
Vision 2050
bio-diesel, fuel cells, solar chips, portable energy sources and multifuel options
Partnership with Academia/Industries/Private Sector
The partnerships among academic, industries, public and private
institutions would rise for mutual growth and problem solving in
efficient, cost effective and time bound mode. The R & D institution
would have more collaboration with industry for problem identification
and solving as well as for commercialization of developed technologies.
Industry would use the R&D facilities of these institutions and young
human resource of academics for solving of the industry problem.
Timeliness, convergence, integration, and cooperation among partners
would require newer models of social engineering.
Changes in Policies and Regulations
The Research organizations would tend to work in the mode of
core team of professionals’ while other technical and supporting human
resource would be hired coterminous with the contracted assignments.
Funding would come from sponsored research, joint research and
consultancies. Limited dedicated fund may be with the institute for
taking up strategic as well as futuristic research. The provision to
involve and assigned tasks through the best possible human resource for
solving the specific problem may be available through contract mode.
The contracting and credit sharing policies would be harmonized with
the best institution anywhere.
On the strength of the R&D carried out at the institute, the
core team would work as knowledge partners with public institutions
and regulatory authorities towards developing appropriate governance
framework. Such initiatives would transcend geo-political boundaries
leading to robust science based global policies on agriculture, food,
energy and environment sustainability.
Human Capital in Agricultural Engineering
The need and demand of agricultural engineering professionals with
super specialization in its different streams would increase and they may
function as consultant and service provider with increasing modernization,
mechanization and automation. Tangible and virtual facilities for building
of human capital to bring about the changes envisaged in this document
are extremely eminent. The dream of sustainable agriculture can only be
realized with reinforcement of trained manpower and an autocatalytic
infrastructure of information dissemination. The endeavour of human
17
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
capital building would be through formal agricultural engineering
education, trainings of extension functionaries, skill development for
production, operation, repair and maintenance of machines, training
of end users of technology, manufacturers and local artisans. Besides,
the effort of providing professional training to all stakeholders would
continue.
The institute will also have to arrange for its own human resource
development in agricultural sciences in-pace with developments in
advanced sciences (nano-technology, bio-technology, computational
science, sensing technology etc.)
The concept of business incubation for entrepreneurs, Agrimachinery and Horti business hubs would become prevalent such that
an adequately skilled manpower would function as service provider in
rural sector would absorb the human capacity spared from agriculture
without actually displacing the people. This would also help to decongest
urban areas and better sustain national economic growth
Overall, it is envisioned that engineering inputs in agriculture would
bring about a change using contemporary technologies for quality human
life yet help respect the age old adage of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The
Earth is a family).
q
18
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NOTES
Laser typeset at M/s Print-O-World, 2568, Shadipur, New Delhi 110 008 and printed at
M/s Royal Offset Printers, A-89/1, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi 110 028.