Open AccessAgricultural Mobile Apps used in India: Current Status and Gap Analysis
Author(s) -
Acharya Balkrishna,
J.P. Sharma,
Hanish Sharma,
Sarita Mishra,
Sadhana Singh,
S. K. Verma,
Vedpriya Arya
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
agricutural science digest/agricultural science digest
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0976-0547
pISSN - 0253-150X
DOI - 10.18805/ag.d-5140
Subject(s) - traceability , agriculture , business , animal husbandry , livestock , mobile apps , productivity , agricultural science , agricultural economics , computer science , geography , economic growth , world wide web , economics , environmental science , software engineering , archaeology , forestry
Background: Agriculture plays a significant role in economic and social development in India. With the rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies, information and data can be effectively generated, stored and used by farmers to improve agricultural productivity. For this, smart farming technologies using mobile applications (apps) that help reduce costs, maximize yields and increase profits are being employed. Here, we present an overview of several mobile apps available for traceability in agricultural sectors, discuss their features, functions and how they are lacking in some domains.Methods: In this study during Aug 2019-Sep 2019, several online databases were used for the survey according to the guidelines for Transparent Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. 73 agriculture mobile apps were selected based upon the hits using keywords like “mobile apps, agriculture mobile app, animal husbandry, etc. and with the inclusion criteria of a good review and proper up to date information. These apps were found to be used in different agriculture allied sectors in India.Result: Among these 73 mobile apps used by Indian farmers in various agricultural sectors viz. farm management, fisheries, poultry, livestock and animal husbandry, food traceability and pure agriculture sectors; the respective availability percentage of apps were 12, 14, 14, 23, 23 and 14%. These apps are discussed here in detail along with their gap analysis and a new traceability mechanism has been proposed as well.