Smarter Farming |
If you spend enough time with farmers, water stops being a technical subject very quickly. It becomes something personal. It comes up in offhand remarks, in tired jokes, in arguments that start small and end abruptly. Someone will mention how the canal did not arrive on time. Someone else will complain about how long the tubewell ran last night. Then there is a pause. Everyone knows what that pause means. Water is not reliable any more.
In 2025, agriculture still supports roughly 37 per cent of Pakistan’s workforce. That has not changed much. What has changed is how fragile farming feels. Per capita water availability has dropped below 900 cubic metres a year.
At independence in 1947, it was several times higher. Farmers do not talk in those terms, but they feel the difference. Crops that once felt predictable now feel like a gamble. Even when yields are good, costs feel heavier. Electricity bills climb. Diesel prices bite. Water feels harder to control.
This is the point where artificial intelligence (AI) starts entering conversations, usually with hesitation. Farmers are not asking for technology. They are asking for clarity. When should I irrigate? How much water is enough? Am I helping my crop or just wasting money and groundwater?
For generations, those decisions were guided by habit and experience. You irrigate on fixed days. You flood the field because that is how it was always done. Sometimes it works.........