I live in Gurgaon which is a part of the bustling NCR region which includes the capital city of India, New Delhi. The crops grown in the Haryana region deeply influence the food habits of both urban and rural inhabitants .

Haryana is located in North West India at 29.0588° N, 76.0856° E. The south west monsoon arrives in the last week of June and leaves around the end of September, providing for approximately 84 percent of annual rainfall. Western disturbances bring rain in during the winter months.

The region followed conventional agriculture practices till the 1960s and transformed its agriculture post green revolution. The Green Revolution had two goals- a) to feed the rapidly growing population of India ,which had jumped by 21 per cent in just 10 years to reach 439 million in 1961 b) to become self-sufficient in food production[1]. 

Fig 1 : India on world map, Haryana on India map

Haryana is the food bowl of the country . Due to government policies and Minimum Support Price ( MSP), this region increased its share in India’s wheat and rice cultivation from 5 percent in 1960-61 to  19.7 percent by 2023-24 . Rice and wheat are the staple diet of 3.5 mn people all over the world due to high calorific value, ease of cooking  and high shelf life. In this report I analyse the land and water impact of over cultivation of these crops, explore new methods of growing these crops and look at alternatives.

Material and Methods

The following steps were followed

1. Local Cuisines : Study the food habits of urban and rural residents
2. Crops in the region: Study the crops grown over the years 
3. Agricultural Practice in the regions & challenges associated
   1. Local Survey : Visit three nearby villages and interview the locals 
   2. Research and policy papers  from NABARD , ICFA and  ICAR and agricultural universities 
4. Policy: Understanding the role of government policies ,supply chain, market dynamics behind the cropping patterns

Local Cuisines

This region is dominated by a plant  and dairy based diet. Use of wheat, rice, lentils, pulses, curd and seasonal vegetables is predominant in the diet of the native population of this region. 

Some famous dishes of the region are consumed  [2] with roti ( made of wheat), rice.

Seasonal vegetables 

1. Singri
2. Cholia 
3. Methi Gajar 
4. Bathua Raita

Legumes

5. Mixed dal 
6. Rajma 

Other grains

7. Millets Khichdi 
8. Kadhi Pakora 
9. Besan Roti 

Crops in the region

 66 % of the agricultural land in the region is used for wheat and rice cultivation.

In Haryana, about 96% of the territory is arable, and of that, 86% is used for agriculture , the region has high cropping intensity  of 182 percent %  [3].  

The following figures show rice & wheat cultivation in Haryana along with other crops.

Fig 2 : Rice production in Haryana , 2020 Fig 3 : Wheat production in Haryana , 2006

Agricultural Practice in the region & challenges

Land and Water usage

The cropped area under wheat has been increased from 16.16 percent in 1966-67 to 37.18 percent in 2020-21, followed by rice crop from 4.17 percent to 23.46 percent respectively . 

 The state’s total water requisite is 20 million acre feet(MAF) . The state obtains around 2.3 million acre feet of water from rainfall and rivers whereas 12 million acre feet water comes from 8.47 lakh tube-wells. The state faces a shortage of 5.7 MAF of water annually . [11] 

Reason for increase in yield of these crops

Over the years due to modern agricultural practices, the yield of these crops has steeply increased.

The main reason for the increase are 

1. The cultivation of HYV( high yielding variety ) seeds [1].
2. Subsidised electricity leading to usage of groundwater through tubewells
3. Fertiliser subsidy 
4. Change in conventional methods of cultivation
   1. No puddled fields for rice
5. No tilling for wheat
6. Policy changes i.e assured MSP  

Challenges

Change in yield over the years

The yield of these crops has stagnated over the last few years mainly due the following reasons-

1. Reduction in groundwater table leads to usage of more electricity to pump the deeper table 
2. The puddling in rice cultivation destroys soil structure leading to a poor field for the next crop [6] 
3. Increase in labour cost over the years

Environmental impact

Water Impact : Rice consumes around 27% of the world’s total freshwater withdrawal. Paddy consumes a substantial 160 cm of water compared to  40 cm required by wheat and maize [3].

A significant 71 percent of irrigation relies on groundwater due to which the groundwater table has declined by 11.94 mbgl between 2000-22  [3] . It is declining by 0.1 to 1.0 meters every year. [6]

Soil Impact : The heavy use of fertilisers to increase the yield has led to contamination of the groundwater leading to health issues among the local population, including cancer, kidney failure, and congenital anomalies. Puddled transplanting of rice releases monovalent and divalent cations from the absorbed state into soil solution, increases pH ,CO₂ density and ammonium-N. [8]

Air quality : Farmers burn the rice crop residue left in their fields after harvesting as the left-over residue interferes with tillage and sowing operations of the successive wheat crop. About 2 M farmers in the northwest India burn an estimated 23 mt of rice residue every year [6] . This has led to particulate air pollution since 2017 exceeding more than five times the safe daily threshold limits /

Greenhouse emissions GHG : Haryana emits nearly 2% of national greenhouse gases (GHG) from India. Agriculture sector contributes about 82% & 91% of CH₄& N₂O emissions of the state. 14% of CH4 emissions occur from rice cultivation (14%) . Majority of the N₂O emissions occur from application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer (62%) followed by indirect N₂O emissions (20%) & nitrogen from crop residue left (5%). [7]

Ideas which can solve the above problem

I need to find alternatives in all five areas to address the issue. These solutions are hi-tech, lowtech and lifestyle changes

1. Diet alteration 
2. Crop Diversification
3. New farming methods in collaboration with the  state government
4. Policy changes
5. Change in market dynamics ie supply chain

1. Diet Alteration 

 The inclusion of millets in the diet have many added health benefits while providing the same calorific value.  Millets can easily replace wheat to make chapatis, cereals, chips etc . These millets are rich in dietary fiber, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, and possess a low glycemic index, which is beneficial for managing diabetes and are gluten-free.

2. Crop Diversification

Crop diversification & rotation helps the soil in the following ways 

1. Cover crops add organic matter to the soil improving soil fertility and reducing the need for fertilizers. Example – Mustard, Rye, Peas
2. Different crops with varying root system-. Crops with deep taproots, can access deep soil layers and extract nutrients benefiting subsequent crops grown in the same soil [9], recycle nitrogen that has leached to deeper layers, thus improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop rotations [9]. This process also results in carbon transfer to the soil . Shallow-rooted crops, such as vegetables and cereals, expand horizontally, improving soil aggregation and water retention [9].The development of the root exodermis, which is a protective layer in some plant species, can influence water retention in the soil. 
3.  Non-pulses crops weaken the soil by absorbing excess amounts of nitrogen from the soil, while the Rhizobium bacteria found in the roots of pulses crops increases the fertility of the soil by fixing the free nitrogen of the atmosphere in the soil, hence pulses/legume crops should be grown after non-pulses crops
4. The practice of growing multiple crops in alternating rows disrupts weed & pest growth by outcompeting weeds for sunlight, nutrients, and water, effectively suppressing their growth.

Fig 4 : Crop diversifications & rotation breaks the pest & weed cycle

Other than soil, replacing wheat and rice production with Maize and Millets helps improve air quality and GHG , water usage 

• Millets are climate resilient crops i.e. they are drought and pest resistant and can survive in harsh environments and less fertile soil. There are 11 varieties of millets in India , the most common ones are Jowar, Bajra, Ragi 
• Maize  requires 1/4 water as rice and its cropping duration 100-110 days Vs 120 days for rice.
•  Maize has 900-1400 kg CO₂  eq/ha Global Warming Potential (GWP) as compared to rice 3700-4700)  kg CO₂  eq/ha. Maize production consumes only 278 kwh/ha electricity as against that of rice with 2925 kwh/ha [9]

Crop diversification has be to planned the following in consideration-

A) Climate B) Market C) Labor 

Farmers can use the following rotations in the region. 

Fig 5 : How crop diversification benefits the soil health

3. New farming methods

Farmers can use alternative methods to increase production

Non Puddled Transplantation/ Direct Seeding : Direct-seeded rice can be done in zero-tilled soil or with minimum tillage operations  saving 35% of the net life cycle greenhouse gases (GHGs) compared with the conventional practices .

Zero Tillage seeding for wheat crops: Sowing wheat seed with fertilizer directly into the residue of the preceding rice crop without tillage. It allows earlier sowing of wheat, which increases yields, cuts the time, labor and fuel because the rice residues decompose on the soil rather than being burned, there is less pollution. 

AI powered weeders : Cameras and lasers can be attached to tractors or drones, these can use AI models to detect weeds and use high power lasers to burn them . This could be more cost effective than human labour although the usage might be limited as in India labour is still relatively cheaper.

AI based farming : There is a lot of research going on in this space. India will be a great test bed for these methods. 

In this report I have focussed on the usage of AI in reducing usage of

1. Pesticide
2. Water
3. Fertiliser

How it works 

1. Data Collection

1. Using drones, cameras, IOT sensors in the soil, farmers can assess the 

1. Moisture 
2. PH, nitrogen status using multi-spectral imaging 
3. Image of crops
4. Using weather data on ( for the micro region)
   3. Atmospheric pressure
   4. Wind Speed
   5. Humidity
   6. Rainfall 
   7. Temperature

B. Data Analysis & Insights 

1. Large data sets collected on the parameters from a-g. The data needs to be collected for micro regions not the entire state as wind and land patterns vary
2. Data from third party softwares can be utilised Ex- if the color of crop is X , height is y and width is z , what would be the protein content in the same.
3. AI based surveillance & Image processing -Farmers can upload images of soil /crop  on the app simply by walking around their plot using a GPS enabled phone. Images of crops and be analysed using AI to check for growth, pest infection, nutrients  
4. Predictive Analytics – This data is fed into models . Data set 2, 3 and 4 can be combined and the insights & predictions can be generated. These predictions improve as more and more data is collected
5. Precision Farming – Based on the above data parameters farmers can irrigate their fields and disperse fertilizers .This saves damage to the crops due to overwatering ( ex – rainfall post irrigation can impact the yield of wheat crops severly) 

Fig 7 : Usage of AI in plants disease detection  

When crops are stressed by pests and diseases , their physiological and biochemical parameters like pigment content, water content , protein content etc drop, these are reflected in crop’s spectral reflectance. 

Action items & App

1. The predictions and actions items can be accessed over an app
2. By studying the climate conditions of a micro region , irrigation predictions for that particular region can be broadcasted on the App
3. Short videos in hindi explaining the insights
4. AI based chatbot in hindi for QnA

 Fig 8 : How the farming data collection and usage works

4. Policy changes

Government support is of paramount importance in following areas

• Power and fertilizer subsidy, MSP  to other crops 
• Support AI based farming  as a large population can not afford sensors, camera etc to get the customised data for their farms
• Create programs to educate farmers to interpret and read the AI based insights
• Incentives for farmers to reduce GHG emissions

5. Change in market dynamics

Input support: Availability of quality seeds of HVYs of other crops

Market support :With higher market demand and premium prices for millets,maize etc farmers will find their cultivation more profitable. 

Infrastructure support: To overcome short shelf-life problems of millets; storage, road, transport facilities and adequate electricity supply are essential. India faces a huge amount of grain wastage , the supply chain management for storage is critical

Social and Emotional impact of these ideas

The biggest and immediate effect if the above ideas are implemented will be visible on the AQI in both urban and rural areas.

Other benefits are

1. Accessibility to all:  Millets are one of the cheapest sources of energy, higher content of digestive fibres, protein, vitamins and minerals for poor people. 
2. Promotion of other industries like
   1. Starch Industry 
   2. Feed industry
   3. Growth in millets foods
3. Health benefits

Environmental impact of these ideas

Environmental benefits of the implementation of new farming methods are

1. Reduction in Carbon Footprint and Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Millets and Maize require less fertilizers hence play a crucial role in lowering GHG emissions, particularly nitrous oxide, storing carbon in the soil, thus playing a role in removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.
2. Lesser water & energy consumption for irrigation
3. Diverse cropping systems are less susceptible to pests and diseases 

One potential environmental problem for the above ideas 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its recently released 4 th Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007) concluded that the linear warming trend over the last 50 years (0.13ºC per decade) is nearly twice that of the last 100 years. The all India mean annual temperature also shows similar trends.

While millets is a drought resistant crop , temperature increase of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

o C from present day condition, could reduce the grain yield of maize by 10.4, 14.6 and 21.4 per cent, respectively [10]. 

Are these ideas sustainable? 

The main challenges in using AI for agriculture

1. Cost of these devices is high, farmers can not pay for it
2. Multilingual population , the data needs to be available in Hindi for Haryana
3. While internet and mobile penetration in rural areas is good, a large population can not afford sensors, camera etc to get the customised data for their farms

The above farming practices are nothing if not sustainable as they manage healthy soil , minimize water, and climate pollution while promoting biodiversity. At the same time letting multiple industries grow reduces the dominance and over dependence on any particular industry or region . 

Our ideas also help build multiple sources of income through both cash and food crops.