New Delhi, March 28 (HS): The government has initiated efforts to provide assistance through artificial intelligence (AI) to address various challenges faced by farmers in the agricultural sector. This information was provided today by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Ram Nath Thakur, in a written response in the Rajya Sabha.

In fact, 'Kisan e-Mitra,' an AI-driven chatbot, has been developed to assist farmers with information about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. It is capable of answering farmers' questions and is available in multiple languages, with ongoing development to assist with other government programs. Currently, it answers more than 20,000 questions related to farmers every day and has, to date, responded to over 9.2 million queries.

To prevent crop damage caused by climate change, the National Pest Monitoring System uses AI and machine learning to detect pest infestations in crops, enabling timely actions for healthy crops. Currently, this tool, used by over 10,000 extension workers, allows farmers to take pictures of pests to help reduce pest attacks and crop losses. Presently, it provides information about 61 crops and over 400 pests, with almost 100,000 uploaded images.

Similarly, AI-based analysis is conducted for assessing crop health and monitoring using satellite, weather, and soil moisture datasets for rice and wheat crops, along with field photos.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar