Date: 17/01/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life.

Key Phrases: artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, Precision farming, market-specific solutions, predicting upcoming weather patterns, Analysing farm data, AI chatbots, automation, labour shortages.

Why in news?

• The agriculture sector has come a long way with technology intervention bringing a paradigm shift in how farmers cultivate their crops.
• As the world population continues to proliferate at a fast pace and land becomes scarcer, people have to become more efficient in increasing their productivity and farm yield.

Scope of AI in agriculture:

• Considering the population size, the UN Food and Agriculture Estimate reveals that the global agricultural yield has to expand by 70 per cent by 2050.
• To assist the farmers in meeting the ever-growing food demand, the $5 trillion global agriculture industry is inclining towards artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
• This is helping farmers adopt market-specific solutions for innovation, growth, and impact by improving a wide range of agriculture-related tasks imperative in the food chain.

Significance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the agriculture sector:

• Analysing farm data:
  • Traditionally, a myriad of tasks was required to be handled by farmers manually, including pest control, soil monitoring, forecasting weather conditions, etc.
  • Before the integration of AI, it was challenging for farmers to analyse data points on the ground daily.
  • With the help of AI, it has become easier to predict several real-time factors such as weather, temperature, water usage, and soil conditions to make better decisions.
  • For instance, AI enables farmers to make better farming choices from the planning stage to create more bountiful yields.
• Precision Farming
  • In addition, AI-based technologies aid farmers in precision agriculture, further improving quality and accuracy in farming. The AI technology analyses data for detecting diseases in plants, pests, and poor nutrition in crops.
• Detecting weeds and toxins:
  • The sensors also play a crucial role in detecting and targeting weeds and then deciding the appropriate herbicides to apply. This keeps excessive toxins at bay and results in healthy food production.
• Better forecasting:
  • AI’s predictive models help farmers forecast significant factors influencing yield productivity. These models predict upcoming weather patterns to assist farmers in decision-making and attain agricultural accuracy.
  • Seasonal and weather forecasting plays a crucial role in farming, especially in small farms with limited data and knowledge, and farmers cannot burn their money in experiments or guesswork.
  • Small farms contribute to the agricultural economy and produce income for most of the farming community. Hence, AI implementation is necessary to keep such farms operational.
• Monitoring:
  • Besides, AI enables farmers to monitor the fields more professionally than ever.
  • The data captured through drones flying over the fields help farmers monitor the field in real-time with better efficiency.
  • Through AI-enabled drone cameras, farmers can identify problematic areas in larger fields that are difficult to monitor by humans in lesser time.

Tackling labour shortages:

• Automation:
  • Agriculture is a labour-intensive activity that traditionally required seasonal workers to harvest crops and monitor farms.
  • With more people moving from an agrarian society to cities, farmers are facing a shortage of labour for the upkeep and output of their farms.
  • As AI technology is transforming each business sector with automation, agriculture is not immune from its willingness to lend a helping hand to the farmers.
  • AI bots can be used in multiple ways, from harvesting crops at a higher volume to locating problem areas in the field.
• Dissemination of information:
  • Farmers can also use AI chatbots for technical assistance. Many agritech start-ups are taking initiatives to equip farmers with the technical know-how of modern farming practices.
  • As a result, they help farmers with answers to various questions and provide advice and recommendations based on their queries.
• Cost efficiency:
  • The deployment of technology also helps farmers acquire greater cost efficiency.
  • Technology replaces several mundane and time-consuming human-oriented tasks with automation.
• Reducing labour and labour costs:
  • Farmers can monitor their crops more accurately by eliminating laborious tasks and reducing errors and labour costs.
  • Therefore, with less labour workforce, farmers can still meet the world’s ever-growing food demand with more efficiency and yield productivity.

Conclusion:

• The fundamental need to grow food will never fade away. In fact, it will increase with the growing population’s needs.
• Fortunately, AI will allow farmers to operate their farms at larger sizes with greater cost and time efficiency. With cognitive technologies, they can produce food with better productivity.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. How can artificial intelligence (AI) technologies help the agriculture sector overcome the most challenging hurdles in the sector? Discuss.