Keeping young people in farming: a column's case for AI, sensors and drones

In April 2026, Jagonews24 published in its agriculture and nature section a column arguing that Bangladesh can keep its young people in farming only if technology reaches the field. The writer said the Fourth Industrial Revolution was rapidly changing the structure of production, economies and labour markets around the world, and that artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), soil sensors, drones and big data analysis had put agriculture at the centre of that change. Developed countries, the column said, had already transformed their farming through "smart agriculture" and "precision farming", while in a developing country such as Bangladesh the effective integration and use of these technologies was still limited. As a result, it argued, keeping young people who are interested in agriculture within the sector was becoming harder every day.

The column's central claim was that spreading technology-based agriculture is essential not only to raise output but to build a sustainable and attractive farming ecosystem. This report sets out the writer's argument and places it beside the official labour statistics, the government farm services and the research on farm technology that were on record when the column appeared.

The phrase "Fourth Industrial Revolution" describes the rapid technological change of the 21st century, a trend towards automation and data exchange. It grew out of a high-tech strategy prepared for the German government, whose "Industrie 4.0" project began in 2011. Klaus Schwab, then executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, brought the term to a wider audience in a 2015 article in Foreign Affairs, and it became widely known in 2016, when the Forum's annual meeting in Davos took "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution" as its theme. The technologies usually grouped under it include artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, biotechnology, gene editing and fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks.

In farming, these tools come together under the name precision agriculture: a management strategy that gathers, processes and analyses data on fields, individual plants and animals, and uses it to decide where, when and how much seed, water, fertiliser or pesticide to apply. The idea took shape in the United States in the early 1980s. In 1985 researchers at the University of Minnesota varied lime applications across fields, and by the late 1980s grid soil sampling was producing the first fertiliser and pH recommendation maps. Yield sensors and satellite positioning (GPS) later widened the practice. Precision methods can reduce the use of inputs and fuel and limit the runoff of chemicals into waterways; one approach described in the research literature, targeted manure application guided by spectroscopy and ground scanning, can cut fertiliser use by up to 30 percent.

Adoption has been uneven. Reviews of the field note that automated systems are concentrated in rich countries, that fewer than one in ten farmers in France used variable-rate equipment, and that small family farms have slowed uptake in China. They also warn of a digital divide: when a technology requires specific skills, its benefits go first to farmers who are digitally literate and can afford it. That is the gap the Jagonews24 column described for Bangladesh.

According to the column, AI plays its main role in agriculture in identifying crop diseases and pests, forecasting yields, analysing weather and supporting decisions. By analysing a photograph, it said, a crop disease can be identified very quickly, which helps the farmer take remedial action at once. In the same way, models that combine AI and IoT can analyse soil quality, weather and past production records to predict yields. The writer argued that such tools make farming less risky and more profitable, and so can present agriculture to young people as a modern sector with prospects; but if the technology does not reach the field, farming will remain an uncertain and poorly paid occupation.

Tools of this kind were already in use elsewhere. Agro-advisory phone applications such as Plantix offer quick, low-cost detection of crop diseases from pictures, and machine learning is used to link data from drones, robots and field sensors in order to deliver fertiliser or water precisely, or to estimate how much nitrogen in the soil is available to plants. Digital technologies also work beyond the farm gate: mobile phones, online information services, e-commerce platforms and digital payments can reduce the information gap on prices and cut the cost of trading along the value chain.

A 2014 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), "Youth and agriculture: Key challenges and concrete solutions", made the link to young people directly. Older farmers are less likely to adopt new technologies, it said, so re-engaging youth in agriculture is vital if productivity is to rise sustainably.

The Internet of Things means ordinary devices connected in a network so that they can collect and share data. On farms, IoT sensors record temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, pest infestation and soil content, so that farmers can monitor soil temperature and moisture from a distance and feed the readings into precision fertiliser programmes. Newer in-soil sensors can send their data wirelessly without anyone visiting the field.

The column said IoT technology makes it possible to measure soil moisture, pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), temperature and salinity in real time, and that the data collected by soil sensors can be seen directly in software or a mobile app, helping the farmer make the right decision at the right time. A smart irrigation system, it added, can use this information to water the crop automatically, reducing the waste of water and cutting production costs. In a country like Bangladesh, where the cost of irrigation is a big problem, the writer said, such technology could bring wide change. Young people are comfortable with technology, so IoT-based farming could appeal to them; but without easy access to the equipment and training, the column warned, they would turn away from agriculture.

Bangladesh's own experience with water-saving rice irrigation shows what measured water management can do even before electronics are added. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a method of controlled, intermittent irrigation of lowland rice: instead of keeping standing water in the field all season, the farmer lets the field dry for a few days before irrigating again. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has promoted it through national research and extension services in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam. The farmer sets a perforated plastic or bamboo tube about 30 centimetres long into the soil and watches the water level inside it; when the water falls 15 centimetres below the surface, the field is flooded again to a depth of about 5 centimetres, and it is kept flooded around flowering. Studies report that AWD can save about 38 percent of irrigation water without harming yields, lowers pumping and fuel costs, and cuts methane emissions from paddy fields. Its drawbacks are higher nitrous oxide emissions, more weeds and lower yields when farmers have not been trained. A soil-moisture sensor does the same job as the tube, automatically and continuously.

Bangladesh also has a state body for soil knowledge, the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) under the Ministry of Agriculture. It began as the East Pakistan branch of the Directorate of the Soil Survey Project of Pakistan and took its present form in 1982, and it carries out research and surveys on soil quality to improve the country's agriculture. Field sensors of the kind the column describes would add continuous readings to that national soil record.

The column described drone technology as quickly becoming popular in agriculture. Drones, it said, can be used to watch over crops, spray fertiliser and pesticide, map land and analyse crop health, saving both time and labour. They are especially effective on large holdings, because they can spray evenly in a short time, which is hard for people to do by hand, and the pictures and data they collect can be analysed to spot crop problems quickly. The writer saw a new source of jobs here for young entrepreneurs, such as offering drone spraying as a service or analysing the data, but said the sector needs training, a policy framework and easy finance.

An agricultural drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle used mostly to improve yields: it monitors crop growth, sows seed from the air and protects crops, often carrying spray equipment for pesticides. Multispectral cameras record light beyond the visible range, which reveals stress in plants that the eye cannot see, and the images can be stitched into maps of crop health. Drones are relatively inexpensive and can be flown by novice pilots, and when they apply inputs only where they are needed they can help reduce the environmental impact of pesticides.

The same sources record the obstacles that the column's call for policy addresses. Purchase and maintenance costs put drones out of reach of many small farms in developing countries. Rules differ by country: in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration's 2016 rules for commercial drone operations require operators to pass a knowledge test and register their aircraft; several countries, including India, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, have drone laws; and some countries have banned drone flights altogether. Concerns over privacy have also caused opposition to drones. Training, a clear licensing system and easy finance, the three needs the writer named, are what turn a drone from a demonstration into a service a farmer can hire.

Big data, the column said, is an important part of modern farming. Data gathered from different sources, such as weather, soil quality, market prices and production history, can be analysed to make the farm system more efficient: which crop will pay best in which area, and when sowing will give a good harvest, can be decided through data analysis. Farmers can then reduce risk and raise income. Young people are more interested in data-driven work, the writer said, so data-based agriculture could attract them; but if the opportunities are not created in practice, they will move to other sectors.

Bangladesh already had a public channel for farm advice by telephone. The Krishi Call Centre (agriculture call centre) of the Agriculture Information Service (AIS), a body under the Ministry of Agriculture, was set up at Khamarbari in Farmgate, Dhaka, under a preliminary agreement signed in June 2011 between AIS and Practical Action Bangladesh. It began a trial service in June 2012 and was formally opened on 4 June 2014. Farmers can call the short number 16123 free of charge to ask agricultural specialists about crops, livestock, fisheries, nutrition and weather. AIS noted that mobile phones could bring low-cost information to the country's roughly 2 crore (20 million) farmers and entrepreneurs, and that mobile subscriptions in Bangladesh had passed 11 crore (110 million) by April 2014. Its list of digital channels includes websites, email, SMS, interactive voice response, phone-in programmes, Agricultural Information and Communication Centres (AICCs), community radio and mobile apps, alongside its long-running farm magazine Krishi Katha.

Work with farmers in the field is the job of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), formed in 1982 by merging the agriculture directorate for extension and management, the jute directorate, the plant protection directorate, the Horticulture Board, the Tobacco Development Board and the Central Extension Resource and Development Institute. It ran Training and Visit programmes for farmers until 1990, then moved to group training, and since 1996 its work has been planned under the New Agricultural Extension Policy. The old block supervisors are now sub-assistant agriculture officers, and AIS has noted that many of them carry mobile phones and use the internet to keep up to date. The column's proposal for one integrated app bringing together soil data, weather forecasts, disease diagnosis and market prices would build on these existing channels.

The official figures of the time show how much the country still relied on farm work. In the Labour Force Survey 2022 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), released in March 2023, the labour force was 73.41 million and 70.78 million people were employed. Agriculture's share of employment had risen to 45.33 percent from 40.6 percent in the 2016-17 survey, while industry's share fell from 20.4 percent to 17.02 percent. Unemployment was 3.6 percent, against 4.2 percent in 2016-17, and female labour force participation rose to 42.68 percent nationally and 50.88 percent in rural areas. Analysing the survey in June 2023, the economist Sayema Haque Bidisha of Dhaka University noted that young people aged 15 to 29 made up 36.53 percent of the labour force, and that youth unemployment had been 10.6 percent in the 2016-17 survey, against a national average of 4.2 percent.

The final report of the Labour Force Survey 2024, reported in September 2025, put agriculture at 44.67 percent of employment, services at 37.96 percent and industry at 17.37 percent. The labour force was 71.71 million, 69.09 million people were employed, and unemployment had risen to 3.66 percent from 3.35 percent in 2023. There were 24.83 million people of working age between 15 and 29. About 84 percent of the employed worked in the informal sector, and in the 15-29 age group the share was 92.66 percent. The survey counted 8.56 million young people aged 15 to 29 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET). Agriculture's share of the economy is far smaller than its share of jobs: it made up 14.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2017 and a little over 12 percent in the 2022-23 financial year.

Earlier commentary had described the same picture from the field. In a December 2024 column in Prothom Alo, Professor A K M Humayun Kabir of Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University wrote that young people aged 15 to 29 made up 27.96 percent of the population, nearly 4.75 crore people, and that about 17 to 20 percent of them worked in farming or on farms. He cited the Department of Agricultural Extension as saying that 60 to 70 percent of the people engaged in farm work were young people aged 18 to 35, and gave examples of young growers: malta grown on flat land in Pirojpur, vegetables at Savar and Kaliakair near Dhaka, and mango and rice in Rajshahi. Young investors, he wrote, were choosing lines with assured profit such as black pepper, summer onion, tomato, dragon fruit, strawberry, malta and orange, and were also entering farm produce marketing, the machinery trade, fish farming, dairy and poultry.

The Jagonews24 column observed that many young Bangladeshis show interest in agriculture but do not want to stay in it for long. It named the main reasons: uncertainty and high risk in farming, a lack of technology, too little training and support, a weak market system and social attitudes towards farm work. If agriculture cannot be established as a modern and profitable profession, the writer said, it will not be possible to hold on to these interested young people, and the result will be a shortage of skilled workers in the farm sector.

The Prothom Alo column of December 2024 had listed similar obstacles in more detail. Many young people still did not see farming as an attractive profession; financial risk was high and income low; training in modern technology was lacking; getting a loan was complicated and slow; young farmers had no organisations of their own; land and farm reform was lacking and land ownership was insecure while land prices kept rising; rural infrastructure was weak; government planning to support farm families was lacking; and the negative view of farming in society, together with the pull of the cities, had created an identity crisis for farmers. Its proposals were training workshops in farm technology and modern machinery, loans and financial support for young entrepreneurs, digital platforms with farm information, market prices and marketing advice, direct sales that reduce the influence of middlemen, and better agricultural education and research at public and private universities.

The international picture was similar. The FAO, CTA and IFAD report of 2014 described how tailor-made educational programmes can give rural youth the skills to take up farming and to adopt environmentally friendly production methods, and it treated access to land and finance, connection to markets and "green" jobs as the other conditions for keeping young people in agriculture.

The column called an integrated, technology-based policy for modernising agriculture a demand of the time. To turn farming into a competitive and profitable sector in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it said, AI, IoT, soil sensors, drones and big data must be brought to farmers' doorsteps. That requires lowering the cost of the technology, making it easy to use and building solutions that suit local conditions.

To keep the young generation in agriculture, the writer argued, modern and relevant training is essential: skills should be built through technical education, hands-on training and practical learning platforms, so that young people grow up not merely as job seekers but as technology-based agricultural entrepreneurs.

At the same time, the column said, agricultural technology startups need encouragement. A supportive environment for new entrepreneurs should be created through investment facilities, incubation support, easy credit and links to markets, and public-private partnership can play an important part in turning innovative ideas into practice.

Through digital platforms, the writer said, information and services can reach farmers quickly. A single integrated app or platform could give soil information, weather forecasts, disease identification and market prices, making decisions more effective. Finally, the column called for supportive policy and incentives for drone use, data sharing and the spread of modern technology: a clear policy, safe data management and incentive programmes, it argued, would raise the acceptance of technology in farming and help make the sector ready for the future.

In the writer's view, agriculture that does not become technology-based in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will not remain sustainable, and the effective use of these technologies is essential above all to keep young people in farming. Otherwise, the column warned, the sector will gradually lose its vitality and the country's food security will be threatened. It ended with a call to build, through technology and policy together, a smart farming system in which young people do not merely take part but lead.

Photo: Vis M / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (Labour Force Survey 2022 and 2024, as reported by The Business Standard and The Financial Express), The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Agriculture Information Service (AIS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CTA and IFAD, Wikipedia (Fourth Industrial Revolution, precision agriculture, digital agriculture, Internet of Things, agricultural drone, alternate wetting and drying, Department of Agricultural Extension, Soil Resource Development Institute, agriculture in Bangladesh)