Drones can help create $100-bn GDP enhance, lakhs of jobs in India: WEF report

Putting drones on the centre of a technology-led transformation of Indian agriculture can help enhance the nation’s GDP by 1-1.5% and create a minimum of 5 lakh jobs in the approaching years, the World Economic Forum (WEF) mentioned in a brand new report on Tuesday.

The report, ready by WEF’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India in collaboration with Adani Group and launched right here, outlined the potential for drone-based transformation of Indian agriculture.

It additionally outlines use instances for drones, fusing army and civilian applied sciences enabled by digital adoption, analytics, digital financing and a well-coordinated native stakeholder effort and gives a framework for improvement of scalable pilots that can be applied by numerous governments, the WEF mentioned.

“Arguably, aviation is one of the most regulated sectors globally. India’s bold and measured approach to spur unmanned aviation has been celebrated across a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

“To take advantage of of this regulatory panorama, drones should be half of the core agri-equipment repertoire alongside tractors, cultivators, ploughs, diggers and mix harvesters to fortify our farms,” said Vignesh Santhanam, Project Lead, Aerospace and Drones (India) at WEF.

Citing different studies, the WEF highlighted the immense potential in improving agricultural outcomes for farms through precision agriculture expertise and advisory that can enable a 15% increase in productivity in India’s $600 billion agriculture sector.

“Drones can play a essential position in unlocking this worth as they supply an efficient medium to gather information and apply inputs, straight impacting yields and farmers’ earnings. Scaling drones in agriculture sector may also enhance farm mechanization and nudge India nearer to international friends,” the WEF said.

The report of the Geneva-based WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation, also outlined how civil-military convergence can accelerate research to benefit civil society applications.

Given the nascent state of the drone sector and significant import dependence on various key components, there is a need to build a robust local support system including a ‘Made in India’ supply chain, targeted skill development programmes, next-generation digital financing mechanisms and strong awareness-building programmes among farmer groups and policymakers, it added.

The mainstreaming of drones in the agricultural sector needs to be aided with the creation of a “inexperienced microcosm” where an integrated ‘drone-centric rural hub’ is set up and stabilised across crop cycles.

“The microcosm could be a managed setting that may take a look at diversified use instances pertinent to agriculture in addition to different rural functions,” the WEF said.

India has approximately six lakh inhabited villages, all of which are said to have a reasonable level of agricultural activity.

However, productivity in agriculture is determined largely by the inputs used by farmers at the time of cultivation, while several studies have indicated that the per-hectare output of a mechanised farm tends to be higher than that of a non-mechanised and irrigated farm.

The report cited a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) report to highlight that digital tech-based agriculture can unlock further value of $65 billion by 2025 and said the gross domestic product (GDP) impact of digital agriculture will be even larger.

Besides, precision agriculture know-how and farm advisory services shared through multiple channels based on multiple existing and new data sources (soil health cards, weather data, farm/tractor-based sensors) can enable an economic opportunity of $25 billion through a 15 per cent increase in productivity.

Similarly, there is an opportunity for about $15 billion in agricultural credit and insurance to be generated through digital interventions.

Further, there is an estimated potential for 40-60% of the agricultural surplus to be transacted through digital marketplaces by 2025 and a 10% improvement in farmers’ price realisation by selling produce through electronic channels, creating an opportunity of $25 billion, the WEF said.

It is expected that the drone and drone components industry will attract $50 billion of investment in the next few years.

“If executed nicely, drones can help rework Indian agriculture, enhance agriculture GDP by 1-1.5%, create a minimum of 5,00,000 new jobs and help the nation in ushering in a brand new digital period of prosperity,” the WEF mentioned.

The agriculture sector is important for the Indian economy, offering livelihood for about 58% of households and guaranteeing meals safety for 130 crore individuals.

In comparability with the trade and companies sector, which provides a gross worth of 80% whereas using 54.4% of the nation’s workforce, agriculture accounts for 45.6% of the workforce at 18.29% of the gross worth added (GVA) as of 2019-2020.