Should proper measures be taken to develop and deploy these technologies, one Russian farm in three could use Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions and drones in their operations in less than three years, according to a roadmap now circulating among Russian government circles.
Held in the framework of Russia’s governmental strategy for food quality until 2030, the discussions have involved the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), the recently established Russian Association of the Internet-of-Things, and the Department of information technologies at the Ministry of Agriculture.
By 2019, the share of Russian farms using IoT technologies could grow to some 30%, up from 0.05% today, while domestic IoT solution providers could see their market share increase from 6% to 20%, the IIDF stated in its press release.
“Our working group believes that the current legal environment in Russia is not favorable and supportive enough to IoT development. The suggested program aims, first of all, to ease such constraints especially in the agro sector,” said IIDF Deputy Director Sergey Skripnikov in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
Unpredictable costs
According to the roadmap, the required legislative changes would be introduced next fall. The next step would involve several and the Federal Security Service (FSB), which would make some of their radio frequencies available for drone use by the end of this year.
Farmers should also be provided with a more simplified access to maps and weather data, which are necessary to monitor and forecast crop yield.
The considered program would also make it easier for farmers to register connected objects for use on their land property.
The roadmap doe not provide cost estimates for farmers to deploy these technologies. Figures cited by experts from the private sector range from 1 million to 100 million rubles (roughly $17,000 and $1.7 million at the current exchange rate, respectively) per farm.
According to IIDF’s Sergey Alimbekov, a farm may save 20% of its annual expenditure by using the analytics provided by IoT solutions.
By 2019, the IIDF expects to carry out some 20 pilot projects. A few weeks ago, the state-backed fund announced a partnership with Bayer to select and support digital farming startups.
“This is a new area for us. We’ve invested or are considering investment in just a few companies,” said Skripnikov.
Sources: IIDF/FRII, RBC – Photo credit: IIDF/FRII.
