Digital Diffusion for Inclusive Agroecosystems

Abstract

The technological advancements in agriculture have resulted in higher yields but lower ecological efficiency and nutritional value. Little innovations in later sectors such as integrating ecological functions in the production systems have crippled our agro-ecosystems to meet the ever-growing demands. The digitization of the agro-ecosystems has become the most essential entry point for any large scale sustainable developmental entities whether it is, crop diversification, sustainable intensification, input use efficiency, agronomic practices, to restoring ecosystem services and risk management. Recent advances in geoinformatics technology and big-data analytics enabled the diffusion of ecological functions in farm production to achieve the desired return (production follows functions). The overarching goal of the ongoing effort was to build an integrated farming system by leveraging technological diffusion with sound ecological functions to design an ‘inclusive agro-ecosystem’ for sustainable development. Meta-analytics of farming systems dynamics in spatial domains help quantifying changes, trajectories and drivers under changing climate, demography and degradation process to target site specific developmental interventions and scaling the proven technologies, such as intensification of food legumes in rice fallows, adoption of conservation agriculture, quantification of yield gaps, land/water productivity and transboundary cooperation.