Centre looks at AI to boost crop yield

To improve crop productivity and farmers' incomes, the Centre may take the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the same and introduce in some parts of the country initially.

In this endeavour, NITI Aayog, the government's policy think-tank, and IBM have signed a Statement of Intent to support the farmers with AI too, along with various other government-sponsored schemes and programmes, according to an official statement.

With the AI, the government hopes to provide a crop yield prediction model to farmers by feeding them with insights on crop productivity and soil yield.

This data would provide real-time advisory to farmers.

The first phase of the project will be launched in 10 Aspirational Districts across Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Also, the project would provide crop monitoring, early warning on pest and disease outbreak, so that agriculture output does not fall below critical level.

Highlighting the importance of the partnership, Kant said bringing in future technologies like AI into practical use will have tremendous benefits for the practice of agriculture in the country.