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Precision agriculture is giving the required input at the right dosage at the right time to the crop. We in Sri Lanka do not practice this. We use too much fertilizer, water and other chemicals to increase yields.
This is mostly due to not understanding how the crop reacts to each input. This extra buffering of fertilizer, chemicals and water takes a toll on the environment as well as the economy of the farmer. In my own corn silage cultivation, I use the natural cycle of the plant to understand the exact quantities of water, fertilizer, pesticides and weedicides the plant needs to flourish. Our tropical climate and proximity to the equator provides us with a stable temperature and relative humidity with minimum variations. The temperature is a comfortable 35-38 degrees Celsius while relative humidity is maintained at 60-70%. My farm is opted to use a pivot irrigation system from Baur Austria to accurately control the amount of water that is supplied to the plant. For this system to work efficiently, we need around 680mm of rain for 75 days of irrigation; that is 9mm rain a day which we use in the pivot irrigation system. This system is also equipped with a dosage system for foliar fertilizer applications and pesticide and weedicide applications. We in Sri Lanka continue to use basic fertilizer formulations which are not coated like in the Generation 3 or 4 fertilizers. Hence it is required that we blend the NPK mixture with the micro minerals separately and thereafter add it to the field. Earlier our practice was to apply this mix twice in a season, but we soon found that we were overdosing on the crop at a particular period of its life. This damaged its roots and leaves. Now we have split the application to four times, with smaller doses with appropriate times of dosing. For example, when the seed is germinating the crop does not require a dose of fertilizer. However, as the seed germinates and within 10 days of emergence, the root needs the help of fertilizer to establish itself. Therefore, the first application occurs at 10 days, the second in 20 days, the 3rd in 35 days and the 4th in 45 days. In my experience, this topping up of fertilizer had a very positive effect on root and shoot growth. Furthermore, fertilizer wastage was minimized drastically. It must be noted here that this does increase the labor cost but, when considering the effect it had on the cultivation, this technique trumped labor cost. Pre and post emergent chemicals such as weedicide and pesticide are used in controlled manner as we chose to work the land for three seasons in a year. The constant working of the land does not allow weeds to get established. My company is also the first in Sri Lanka to implement the three season method in 2017. For this, we needed to get our tractors and other equipment to match the working of the land and time the period of cultivation. This can only be done with large-scale machinery and there are few who have been able to infuse the capital necessary to invest in machinery that can work at a faster pace. Moving from two seasons a year to three has not only allowed us to use the land more efficiently but also improved our production capacity. All the above methods and techniques combined have helped us produce a high yielding corn silage crop with the minimum use of resources and inputs.