IIT Mandi to help farmers boost potato production

To deploy AI-based tools for crop management advisories

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

Potato farmers in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh would soon be able to get solutions for their crop-related challenges through scientific interventions. Besides boosting the production, this will also enhance the farmers’ income.

Coming to the rescue of small and marginal farmers, the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), in association with its partners, has developed algorithms, tools and an app to extend possible solutions to the farmers. It is deploying artificial intelligence (AI) tools to provide crop management advisories to small and marginal farmers.

The Rs 10-crore project has been funded by the Department of Biotechnology and other partners.

The app — FarmerZone — available in Hindi, Punjabi and English — is a collective open-source data platform for smart agriculture which will serve as a multi-purpose window for dissemination of farm-level information to farmers who are registered with it.

It will deal with matters related to climate change and weather prediction, land, soil, water and seed. Besides this, farmers will also be able to detect disease of potatoes. The platforms aim to advance the process of technological intervention to help small and marginal farmers who constitute a major component of Indian agriculture.

“We have already worked with 1,200 farmers in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and collected data and patterns. On the basis of that data, we have developed algorithms, tools and the app. This year we are planning to test all algorithms by extending our reach to 5,000 farmers in these three states,” said Dr Shyam K Masakapalli, associate professor, School of Basic Sciences, IIT, Mandi.

The first phase of the project includes validation and demonstrating the application of big data and machine learning to create locally relevant and on-demand advisory to meet the specific needs of the farmers. The phase II will cover 5,000 farmers and validate the algorithms. It also has plans to extend the project to provide market linkages to farmers.

Though there are hundreds of digital data-driven advisories available in the market, ranging from online advisory to mobile apps and SMS-based services, there was a need for an integrated, consistent and trustworthy advisory platform that meets all requirements of farmers.

According to the institute, the platform will connect farmers, scientists, government officials, leaders in agriculture, economists and representatives from global companies who work in the big-data and e-commerce space to bring about technology-based localised agri-solutions.

Since food security is a global concern and the livelihood of millions of families depend on small scale agriculture, FarmerZone app targets to address this challenge and will showcase the enormous research strength of India and its international partners to achieve the desired results and build strong and sustainable research and innovation partnerships.