Role of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture
With the growing world's population and the demand for food rising, it is crucial to use efficient farming methods to increase production on the limited amount of land. AI is becoming more prevalent every day in agriculture, and AI-based devices are elevating the current farming system. Agriculture is dependent on a number of variables, including soil nutrient content, moisture, crop rotation, rainfall, temperature, etc. Products based on artificial intelligence can use these variables to track crop productivity. In order to improve a wide range of agriculture-related tasks throughout the entire food supply chain, industries are turning to Artificial Intelligence technologies.
Applications and solutions that use AI in agriculture have been created to assist farmers in precise and regulated farming by giving them the right advice on water management, crop rotation, timely harvesting, the type of crop to be cultivated, optimal planting, pest attacks, and nutrition management.
AI-enabled systems make weather predictions, monitor agricultural sustainability, and assess farms for the presence of diseases or pests and undernourished plants using data like temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and sun radiation in conjunction with photographs taken by satellites and drones.
With equipment as basic as an SMS-enabled phone and the Sowing App, farmers without connectivity may profit from AI right away. Farmers with Wi-Fi connectivity can utilise AI apps to get a constantly AI-tailored plan for their farms, in the meantime. Farmers can meet the increased demand for food while growing output and revenues responsibly and without diminishing priceless natural resources with the help of IoT and AI-driven technologies. Climate variables include heat, precipitation, wind, and solar radiation.
There are many possible areas in which AI can help farmers such as:
Weather forecasting using AI:
Farmers find it challenging to determine the best time to sow seeds due to climate change and rising pollution. With the aid of artificial intelligence, farmers can analyze weather conditions by using weather forecasting, which helps them plan the type of crop that can be grown and when seeds should be sown.
Soil and crop health monitoring system:
The kind of soil and nutrition of the soil have a significant impact on the crops that are grown and their quality. The quality of the soil is deteriorating as a result of growing deforestation, making it difficult to assess.
AI Robotics:
Robots that can effortlessly carry out a variety of activities in farming fields are being developed based on AI. When compared to people, these robots are trained to harvest crops more quickly and in greater quantities while controlling weeds.
These robots are taught to harvest and pack crops while simultaneously inspecting the crops' quality and looking for weeds. These robots can also overcome the difficulties experienced by agricultural labourers.
Pests’ detection using AI:
One of the deadliest enemies of farmers who cause agricultural damage are pests.
AI systems employ satellite photos and historical data to determine whether any insects have landed and, if so, which species—such as locusts, grasshoppers, and others—have done so. AI aids farmers in their battle against pests by sending alerts to their cell phones so that farmers may take the necessary precautions and employ the necessary pest management.
Crop health monitoring using drones:
Drone technology has had a lasting effect on the productivity of India's agriculture sector. The companies like Equinox Drones provide farmers with drone-powered solutions to boost productivity in a variety of farming operations, including precision farming, livestock management, pesticide application, crop stress identification, treatment planning, plant growth monitoring, and scouting.
In the future, AI will help farmers evolve into agricultural technologists, using data to optimize yields down to individual rows of plants.
Dr Gourav Shrivastava
Associate Professor & HOD
School of Advanced Computing
SAGE University, Bhopal
