Promoting sustainable practices

Sustainable agriculture offers a much-needed alternative to conventional input-intensive agriculture, the long-term impacts of which include degrading topsoil, declining groundwater levels and reduced biodiversity. It is vital to ensure India’s nutrition security in a climate-constrained world. Growers may use methods to promote soil health, minimize water use, and lower pollution levels on the farm. Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Blockchain is a disruptive technology that can facilitate traceability in agriculture supply chains through decentralized immutable public records.

Blockchain, coupled with IoT, is remodeling the food production industry. It is set to make farming a sustainable practice by using a simplified approach to optimize farming resources like:

• Water

• Labor

• Fertilizers

Blockchain combined with IoT can facilitate farmers and other stakeholders in making optimal decisions. Crop rotation can be used to suppress weeds, pathogens and insect pests.Cover crops in orchards and vineyards can buffer the system against pest infestations by increasing beneficial arthropod populations and can therefore reduce the need for chemical inputs. Using a variety of cover crops is also important in order to protect against the failure of a particular species to grow and to attract and sustain a wide range of beneficial arthropods.

Optimum diversity may be obtained by integrating both crops and livestock in the same farming operation. A common philosophy among sustainable agriculture practitioners is that a “healthy” soil is a key component of sustainability. That is, a healthy soil will produce healthy crop plants that have optimum vigor and are less susceptible to pests. Technological advancements are today integral to attaining sustainability goals in agriculture. Satellite and GPS technologies, sensors, smart irrigation, drones, and automation, to list a few, provide the means for precision agriculture, which further aids in effective resource utilization. There are now blockchain-enabled platforms that incentivize more sustainable practices, creating more direct incentives, especially in poorer nations.

Agricultural cooperatives powered by the blockchain reward sustainable practices, encouraging farmers to establish provenance of their methods in order to attain a financial reward. Smallholder farmers cultivate crops on 12% of the world’s farmlands and constitute a majority of producers in developing economies. To encourage them to produce high-quality yield, it is crucial to improve their access to financial assistance, which can aid them in investing further in farm productivity by procuring high-quality inputs, upgrading their post-harvest processes, staying informed about sustainable farming practices, and adopting better risk management practices; all of which will support their transition from subsistence farming to one that is economically and commercially viable.