Smartphones are becoming available and accessible to everyone, and major telecom companies of India have reached almost every corner of the country with their services. However, additional steps have been taken to ensure that farmers who do not have mobile phones can also avail themselves of the benefits of digital services. Such farmers can avail services and benefits by utilising existing support facilities like Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs), KrishiSakhis, Common Service Centres (CSCs) and state government institutions. The Government is also making digital applications available in local languages through the integration of Bhashini Platforms.

The government has employed Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to improve crop productivity, sustainability and farmer livelihoods and to address various challenges in the agricultural sector.Some initiatives are given below:

1. “Kisan e-Mitra” is a voice-based AI-powered chatbot, developed to assist farmers with responses to their queries on PM KisanSammanNidhi scheme, PM FasalBhimaYojna and Kisan Credit Card. This solution supports 11 regional languages and is evolving to assist with other government programs. At present, it handles over 8000 farmer queries daily and so far, more than 93 lakh queries have been answered.
2. The National Pest Surveillance System, for tackling the loss of produce due to climate change, utilizes AI and Machine Learning to detect pest infestation in crop issues, enabling timely intervention for healthier crops. This tool, currently used by over 10,000 extension workers, allows farmers to capture images of pests to help them mitigate pest attacks and reduce crop losses. At present, it supports 66 crops and over 432 pests.AI-based analytics using field photographs for satellite-based crop mapping is being used in Crop-weather matching monitoring of crops sown.

 

This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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