Use of drones, AI will change the face of agri sector:Fadnavis

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Adoption of drone technology along with artificial intelligence (AI) will change the face of the irrigation and agriculture sectors in the long-run, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said Thursday.

Addressing the first workshop of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India at the Sahyadri Guest House, he said new technologies will also improve predictability, which will help farmers plan the agricultural produce well in advance.

The World Economic Forum had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Maharashtra to set up the centre in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai.

The multi-million dollar centre will help the larger society benefit from industrial revolution 4.0 technologies including IoT, blockchain, AI among others.

"Industrial revolution with artificial intelligence is changing the face of every single business which we used to do. It is making it more predictable more reliable more efficient," Fadnavis said.

He said even though the irrigation sector has seen some technological advancement, there is no proper evaluation tool for accurate assessment.

"But now with the drone technology associated with AI capabilities, information will be very assessable and I think that would increase the efficiency and accuracy of the department and we would really know that what we claim is correct. This would also increase the revenues of the department," Fadnavis said.

Similarly, he said, agriculture sector also requires sustainability considering the weather uncertainties and climate change, which can cause huge distress.

"All this can be assessed through drones and AI and we can actually reach the farmers before distress happens," he added.

Davis further said that if data can be collated from automated weather stations in the state's 2,000 revenue circles, AI and drones, an effective tool or platform can be created to make the entire agriculture space more predictable.