The Government has employed Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to address various challenges in the agricultural sector to aid farmers. Some of the initiatives are given below:

1. ‘Kisan e-Mitra’ an AI-powered chatbot to assist farmers with queries about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. This solution supports multiple languages and is evolving to assist with other government programs.
2. National Pest Surveillance System for tackling the loss of produce due to climate change. This system utilizes AI and Machine Learning to detect crop issues, enabling timely intervention for healthier crops.
3. AI based analytics using field photographs for crop health assessment and crop health monitoring using Satellite, weather & soil moisture datasets for rice and wheat crop.

 

Further, Government is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) in the Country from 2015-16. PDMC focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation namely Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation Systems. The Micro Irrigation helps in water saving as well as reduced fertilizer usage through fertigation, labour expenses, other input costs and overall income enhancement of farmers. The Government provides financial assistance @ 55% for small and marginal farmers and @ 45% for other farmers for installation of Drip and Sprinkler systems under the PDMC. Additionally, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also developed IoT based irrigation system and tested it in the field for selected crops.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Ram Nath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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