As the role of modern technology has exploded throughout the past few decades, there has been a push against this “advancement” by technological pessimists, who disbelieve the idea that technology improves society. One example is the [in]famous Wendell Berry, whose conservationist beliefs clash against arguments prioritizing productivity. But while the more flashy forms of technology tend to cater to the upper middle class and wealthy, there are many innovations aiming to improve the state of society. One such innovation is apps created by the companies Digital Green and PEAT, which have exploded in popularity among Indian farmers. It might seem crazy that a mobile app for farming can amass over a million users, but those figures are a testament to just how useful they have proved to be. India “is self-sufficient in food staples”, but is struggling to feed its ever-growing population, including over 190 million malnourished people. These innovations may improve India’s Malthusian catastrophe, as well as aid other countries with similar problems.
The rise of these applications were made possible by the mobile boom, which gave hundreds of millions of Indians access to relatively modern technology. This accessibility was largely thanks to the cheap price of internet access, which had “dropped from $3 per gigabyte in 2016 to less than 20 cents, largely thanks to the Reliance Jio Network — created by India’s richest man — which gave users cheap access to 4G services.”
The company Digital Green, started by Microsoft in 2006, aided farmers in creating videos of agricultural techniques, and sharing them on highly accessible databases, notably YouTube. Since then, it has created mobile applications that help farmers transport their goods and better manage their finances. They plan to create more projects to assist Indian farmers, adding to the existing list of “more than 450 ‘Agritech’ startups.” By trying to understand problems on a local scale and giving more control to farmers themselves, it’s a win-win situation for both Digital Green and India’s population.
Taking another approach, the German company PEAT looked at diseases that affected crops. Their app, Plantix, identifies diseases from crops by matching pictures with images in an online database, and then gives a diagnosis and plan for treatment. Utilizing artificial intelligence, the data supplemented by Plantix’s users improves its algorithm, combining scientific data with practical experience. While Plantix is primarily used in India, it has become available in 150 different countries.
According to the executive director of Digital Green, Rikin Gandhi, “If you’re able to understand India, the diversity, and the problems, then that works as a very good template for international expansion.” He believes that a social understanding of a situation is crucial to solving it, regardless of the role of technology. Had these startup programs been implemented without the active involvement of farmers themselves, they may have failed to be implemented at all. I wonder how Berry would react to the success of Digital Green and Plantix? Funny enough, their innovations pass more of Berry’s standards than many other modern day inventions. If the rise of technology is inevitable, perhaps the right implementation are those that improve the infrastructure of society to benefit as many people as possible. Whatever the case, prospects for India’s agricultural sector are looking great as the role of technology increases in scale.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/tech/india-agriculture-tech-digital-green-plantix/index.html