agricultural automation

Agricultural Automation(October 31, 2015)

Abdul GHAFOORghafoor59pk@yahoo.com Crop Science Institute

(CSI)National Agricultural Research Centre, Park

Road, Islamabad, PAKISTAN

Country profile and agriculture

Area: 803,940 sq km (>180 million)Coordinates: 33.67° N, 73.17° EAgro-climate

Hot (dry desert)Temperate (northwest)Arctic (north)

GDP growth rate: 4.14% (2014)Agriculture in GDP: 21.6%Population growth rate: 1.49% (2014)Main crops: Cereals, legumes, fibre, fodder,

horticulture

Animal Sciences Plant Sciences Natural Resources Coordination and MonitoringScientific InformationAgricultural Engineering (farm mechanization and agricultural machinery development)

http://www.parc.gov.pk/index.php/en/

Facts about Agriculture 45% of the country’s labor force

70% of total exports directly and indirectly

3rd largest milk producing country in the world

>60% of rural population dependent on agriculture

22% Contribution to GDP

Food security

Exports

Imports

Crop improvement

Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-14

Risks in AgricultureYield gaps

PotentialAchievableProgressive farmersNational average

Natural vulnerabilityEnvironmental fluctuationsOperational scenarios Credit & Finance Small farmers and allied issues HRD Technology Markets Prices

Coping risksProtected agriculture GM crops?Genetically suitable crops for protected agricultureCrop mechanization

Seed bed preparation to harvesting and processing

Next generation automationRobotics (time management)

Agricultural automation (expectations)Agricultural Robots or agribot deployed for agriculture purposesFruit picking robots, driverless tractor/sprayer, and sheep shearing robots Pruning, weeding, spraying and monitoring of orchids Livestock application, automatic milking, washing and castrating.

BenefitsLower production costsLess need for manual labor

Does really exist in Pakistan?

Agricultural automation (R & D)Research

PhenotypingGenotypingEvaluation

GenomicsDNA sequencing/NGSMicroarrayMASMABQTL Mapping

Bioinformatics Research and academia

Agricultural automation (farming and crop production)

First generation Tractor and tractor driven implements

Development/biological database Not addressed properlyDigitization of crop areas

Water use efficiencyInitial stagesDrip irrigation Sprinkling systems

Applied farm production Not yet

Automation (conservation to production)

Genebank managementCrop improvement Crop productionCrop processingPackaging and marketing

VISION 2030 (UAF-UC Davis) (Sustainable agriculture through learning, discovery, outreach)

Site-specific soil and climatic properties based inputs Topography and drainage Proximal soil sensing Remote soil sensing On-the-go soil and crop sensors Sensing and interpreting variability in soil and crop attributes Crop nitrogen and stress analysis LAI estimation and vegetation indices Crop growth status modeling Satellite ImageryWireless soil and crop sensing Digital farm mapsSpatial modeling Variable rate technologies

http://uaf.edu.pk/USPCAS-AFS/downloads/precision_agriculture.pdf

Improving land/water productivity

Plant and soil health monitoring Yield monitoring Watershed planning Biomass estimation and production Precision land leveling Automated irrigation system Variable rate irrigation application

Developing farm decision support system

Digital farm maps Modeling for crop growthDigital farm record keeping Fencing and setting boundaries of farms Adaptation of precision agriculture technologies for local farming system

Minimizing environmental effectsWeed identification Water quality Soil quality Landscape planning Plant healthWeed control using site-specific weedicide applications Variable rate application of inputsPrecision applications of spray, pesticides, nutrients, etc

Establishment of site specific Agricultural Data Bank on soil properties, crops yields, losses for stakeholders

Can robotics play role to achieving targets?

Short Messages Issue based R & D Development through technology Quick adaptation of research results Farm mechanization (we are far behind) Minimizing yield gaps (potential yields) Environment monitoring and use of remote

sensing Interlinking disciplinary team Time management and quick decision Digitized database

http://helotech.net/agricultural-robots/http://www2.advantech.com/EDM/https://cyphynets.lums.edu.pk/images/Control-Robotics-Agriculture-2Lectures-slides.pdf https://www.stratfor.com/video/conversation-future-automated-agriculturehttp://www.ijee.ie/articles/Vol22-6/10_IJEE1851.pdfhttps://books.google.com.pk/books?ihttp://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-78831-7_63http://www.arc.agric.za/arc-iae/Pages/Precision-Agriculture-and-Automation.aspxhttp://www.eolss.net/ebooklib/ebookcontents/e5-11-themecontents.pdfhttp://www.unibots.com/Papers/Simon%20Blackmore%2021%20Sept%2009.pdfhttp://genome.cshlp.org/content/15/12/1767.full.htmlhttps://cyphynets.lums.edu.pk/Control-Robotics-Agriculture-2Lectures-slides.pdfhttps://www.atsautomation.com/en/life%20sciences/diagnostics/dna%20microarrays.aspx

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