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World Economic Forum (WEF) in its latest report has said that the agriculture sector in India can be transformed by promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. WEF said its AI for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) initiative has helped more than 7,000 chilli farmers get access to agritech services in the first phase.

WEF stated that these agritech services include AI-based advisories, soil testing, produce quality testing and e-commerce---all in the project’s pilot phase. The state government plans to scale existing and additional agritech services in phase II (from 2023 onwards) to 20,000 chilli and ground nut farmers in three districts. The digital public infrastructure will also be introduced in phase II, while in phase III (by 2025), the target is to reach 1,00,000 farmers in the state. The project was initiated in 2022 and is being implemented by Digital Green (in consortium with three agritech startups) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The WEF said the project report can serve as a playbook for governments to enable their local agritech ecosystem and uplift smallholder farmers.

The Forum said as the urgency of the climate crisis becomes more evident and conflicts and natural calamities continue to devastate communities, threatening global food security, the industry is under mounting pressure to embrace sustainable practices and revamp its portfolios. Consequently, agriculture has evolved into a dynamic arena with investment opportunities and innovative solutions, making it an attractive domain for tech-savvy and entrepreneurial minds. It said the AI4AI initiative aims to transform the agriculture sector in India by promoting the use of AI and other emerging technologies. While these technologies have the potential to significantly contribute to improving productivity and sustainability, they are often marked by fragmented technological infrastructure, high costs of operations, lack of access to data and limited technical expertise, while hampering the scale of their impact.