Artificial Intelligence can drive the next agricultural revolution in India to achieve the much-required leap in productivity and food security. India witnessed mission mode-driven changes through Green Revolution, White Revolution, Yellow Revolution, Blue Revolution, and Purple Revolution (Aroma Mission). Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Indian agriculture can catalyse innovation to bring holistic changes, making it more efficient, sustainable and inclusive.
What is AI? AI is the science of making machines think like humans. A subset of AI is machine learning (ML), which refers to the concept that computer programs can automatically learn from and adapt to new data without being assisted by humans. ML provides rich recommendations that benefit farmers.
Stumbling Blocks
According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, the agriculture sector is witnessing an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent over the last six years. Dependence on monsoons, small and fragmented land holdings, lack of equipment, access to quality seed and technical advice to improve crop yields, risk of crop damage due to pests, limited mechanisation, absence of agricultural marketing facilities, and lack of access to traditional finance are barriers to wholesome development.
Farmers often pay inflated interest more than market rates on the capital they borrow. Extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides resulted in pest resistance and deteriorating health of farmers, soil and environment. Technology infusion can unlock the growth potential of the agricultural sector.
Technology Initiatives
National Agriculture Market (eNAM), India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGPA) are reform initiatives to boost farm revenue.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare initiated Agri Stack, a digital foundation, to bring various stakeholders in agriculture on one platform for better outcomes. With a new focus on Farming as a Service (FaaS), targets for AI-led innovations have been identified to increase income, farm productivity and waste reduction. Application of AI, ML, IoT and blockchain are useful in crop and soil health monitoring, predictive analytics and supply chain efficiencies.
Soil Health
In India, soil health is affected by varying degrees of degradation due to the overuse of chemical fertilisers, poor irrigation and farm management techniques. Machine learning can aid farmers in getting a quick analysis of their soils much earlier than laboratory reports.
Data from soil reports, temperature, weather, humidity, and historic crop performance provide insights into various practices like the right time to sow seeds or harvest the crop. The use of drones empowers farmers to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve environmental sustainability. Equipped with multi-sensor cameras, drones facilitate inspection for pests and water requirements.
Real-time data and advice on improving soil quality allow farmers to take immediate measures. In a few tech applications, farmers upload pictures of their soils or pest infested crops to get immediate information on remedial actions.
The Namo Drone Didi program will provide drones to 15,000 selected women Self Help Groups (SHGs) for providing rental services to farmers. The scheme seeks to empower women SHGs while ushering in new technologies through drone services.
The Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) improves soil aeration, water retention capacity, and drainage and enhances microbial growth. Sustainable farming practices supported with AI solutions and remote sensing data improve SOC. Carbon credits earned from these sustainable practices can be traded under the Carbon Trading Credit Scheme.
Farmer Centric
Farmers are the heart of various agritech initiatives. Right from inputs such as seeds, agrochemicals, advisories and finance are focused on farmers. The change towards a farmer-centric approach, away from mandis, can potentially turn agriculture profitable and boost its contribution to India’s economy.
AI-powered systems can create a sustainable environment for protecting the health of farmers. A real-time insight into soil conditions, moisture levels, and crop health aids in the optimal use of fertilizers and pesticides, thereby protecting farmers from over exposure to chemicals on farms.
Analysis of demand and supply chain bottlenecks in real-time offers suggestions to cultivate according to the projections of demand and supply, bringing transparency in crop prices and their by-products, and helping farmers earn more income. AI-powered apps improve quality and ensure faster market access for the produce, reducing wastage.
The PM-Kisan App designed by the National Informatics Centre and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology supplements the financial needs of land-holding farmers. Through the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra more than 34 lakh farmers are added back to the list of beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan).
Water & Energy Conservation
Water makes up over 70% of the earth’s surface area, and the total amount of freshwater only makes up around 3% of the water supply, making it a precious resource. Optimising the use of inputs is the main objective of precision agriculture. Low-cost sensors and data analytics help in waste reduction and minimise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Improved soil health enhances the water and nutrient-holding capacity of the soil. Targeted AI interventions prevent overwatering in farms. Energy consumption patterns are analysed to recommend plans to minimise wastage. AI tools aid climate control systems in greenhouses and provide round-the-clock monitoring for horticultural practices. Conservation agriculture improves yields, saves water and energy and improves carbon sequestration.
Digital Ecosystem
Investment opportunities and innovative solutions are aplenty, making agriculture an attractive domain for startups. More than 1,000 startups have mushroomed throughout the country. A major step in creating a digital ecosystem is rising internet penetration in rural India. Apps, innovations, agrifintechs and large technology companies are working to ramp up the value chain through digital technologies. More than 30 million Indian farmers possess smartphones. They can access AI recommendations to make informed decisions that enhance their productivity and income. The young are more open to technology disruptions in agriculture than the older generation farmers who believe in a wait-and-watch policy.
Image classification tools combined with remote and local sensed data can bring a revolutionary change in the utilisation and efficiency of farm machinery in areas of weed removal, harvesting and grading. A few AI innovations include AI-based chatbots to provide farmers with customized notifications and short videos on a real-time basis, helping them plan and manage crops efficiently.
Microsoft in collaboration with ICRISAT developed an AI sowing app that provides sowing advisories to participating farmers. The advisories contain essential information such as optimal sowing date, soil test-based fertilizer application, farm yard manure application, seed treatment, optimum sowing depth, and more.
Technology informs farmers to reduce the use of herbicides by spraying only where weeds are present. Predictive analytics gives accurate supply and demand information, thus reducing information asymmetry between farmers and intermediaries. NITI Aayog and IBM have partnered to develop a crop yield prediction model using AI to provide real-time advisory to farmers. The project is under implementation in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Public Private Partnerships
The Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) of the World Economic Forum (WEC) promotes AI and other technologies in Indian farms. Currently, the AI4AI aims to leverage Public Private Partnerships for scaled and responsible deployment of agritech innovations.
In Maharashtra, the Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal in collaboration with AI4AI is initiating to work with 1.8 million women across the state. Women farmers will have access to advisory and inputs shared through multiple channels to improve yield and optimise the use of resources, and tech-enabled platforms to improve market access, leading to higher returns and reduced post-harvest losses.
In Uttar Pradesh, WEC and the Digital Agriculture and Export Promotion (DAEP) Council are working towards leveraging technology for supply chain efficiency and building digital public infrastructure for agriculture in the state.
In Telangana, WEC partnered with the state government to launch the Saagu-Baagu. More than 7000 chili farmers are engaged in this programme. They receive support in quality testing, soil testing, crop health monitoring, window prediction, tillage estimation and accessing new customers and suppliers.
Limitations
Fragmented technological infrastructure, high cost of operations, lack of access to data and limited technical expertise hamper the scale of these technologies. There is a requirement to have disaggregated data to find solutions for a location-specific problem.
AI is capital-intensive. It can be difficult to convince farmers to pay for advisory services. Therefore, startups focus on areas where there is revenue visibility. Big players offer personalised advisories bundled with the sale of farm inputs such as seeds.
Outreach programmes create awareness of the use of AI-enabled technologies. Pilot projects suitable to specific areas and crops throughout the country help farmers understand the potential of AI.
The farmers can be incentivised to use low-cost IoT kits that are required to gather real-time data. R&D, incubators and startups require promotion. Sustained investment in data infrastructure to catalyse research, innovation and application is essential. Importantly, laws that respect privacy and provide safeguards for personal data protection and collective rights of farming communities to their data are required to create trust in farmers that their data is safe.
Agritech is gaining momentum, as many new players are eager to join the ecosystem. Creating sustainable livelihoods and promoting traditional practices are crucial for the success of any technological disruptions in Indian agriculture.
*Ambica Vankamamidi is Senior Manager, Head of Corporate Communications, 24 Mantra Organic, and a science communicator, while Raj Seelam is founder and MD of Sresta Natural Bioproducts Limited .
