AI AND IOT-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE FARMING IN PUNJAB: OVERCOMING FINANCIAL BARRIERS AND ENHANCING RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

Abstract

One of the most important industries in the world today is agriculture, which is essential to environmental sustainability, food security, and economic growth. With a growing global population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, ensuring a steady and reliable food supply is essential for avoiding hunger and malnutrition. Once called as ‘granary of the country’ and ‘bread basket of the country’, the state of Punjab revolutionized the Agro needs and Agro economy of the country, after the green revolution, Punjab, Haryana, and western UP quenched the need for food security and got India independence from the humiliating PL480 scheme. Punjab contributes 10 - 12 % of rice and 13 - 15 % of wheat in India’s total rice and wheat production despite covering only 1.5 % of the geographical area of the country. After the Green Revolution. People employed in agriculture and agriculture-related fields have drastically come down from 60% to 35-36%, and that is not just because of modernization, urbanization, and diversification rather Many people have lost interest in farming as a result of Punjab's diminishing agricultural economic returns, soil deterioration, and the depletion of natural resources like groundwater. Traditional crops like rice and wheat have yielded stagnant income over time, and the rising labor, fertilizer, and water costs have made farming less profitable. Many farmers in the state suffer from poor and erratic profits as a result. The frequency of farmer suicides in Punjab has jumped since 2015. From nearly 70 suicides a year between 2000 and 2014, the number increased by nearly four times to 263 a year after 2015 (peaking at 323 in 2018).[The India Forum]. Many of the reasons farmers take these extreme steps can be improved with the use of AI and IoT-incorporated farming. The adoption of advanced technologies like agricultural sensors, drones, GPS, and other integrated devices has rapidly progressed in agriculture. However, in Punjab, most farmers have not embraced these precision agricultural practices. Key reasons include a lack of awareness about these technologies, financial constraints, and other practical barriers that limit farmers' ability to implement modern farming methods. In this paper, writers have addressed the major problems farmers across Punjab are facing and how many of these can be solved using modern technological approaches.