Towards farms of the future: How AI is revolutionising agriculture in India

Technological interventions - on the part of the government and tech majors - are likely to lead to better agricultural practices, yields, and an improvement in the lives of farmers

Ask any tomato farmer in Kolar, Chikkaballapur or Belagavi districts of Karnataka what his biggest worry is, and his answer will be the price fluctuations of the crop. Thanks to unstable prices, farmers are almost never able to plan a definite production pattern for tomatoes. What makes matters worse is that whether there is a rise in prices or a slump, middlemen profit either way. And farmers are often deceived into selling cheap even when the demand for the crop is high in a neighbouring market.    

This is set to change. In a path-breaking initiative, the Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission