International Journal of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Computation

Abstract

Digital Farming: Integrating Farming with Information Technologies to Attain the Best Yields, Cases from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Karnataka

Srujan Kashyap Dendukuri*

Animals, birds and insects, including ants, the tiniest creatures on the earth adopt food security techniques in order to preserve food for the future needs. They are aware that they cannot venture out to hunt for food on a rainy season. They are strategic in choosing their path during rainy and winter seasons when the temperatures and weather conditions would be at their extreme levels. While ants work hard to save food in their hillocks in the tropical rain forests during summer, polar bears hibernate by lowering their body metabolism and stay away from food consumption. Amidst global warming and extreme climate scenario, it is time for the human to act. As intelligent beings on the earth with an ability to communicate, research, share and disseminate knowledge using information technologies, farmers can take the competitive advantages of the information technologies (ICTs) to increase their crop yields. Microsoft India in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been leveraging the AI, Machine Learning and Cloud Technologies to unleash the information on changes in temperature, precipitation and possibilities of pest attacks in advance and could communicate the same to the farmers in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka through SMS alerts. Farmers are receiving information digitally on how and when should they sow the seeds and what type of pest control measures should they adapt to mitigate them. Right from predicting the market prices and the ground water density, AI technologies can go a long way in achieving the Digital Green Revolution. The researcher is keen in presenting the experiences of the farmers of AP, Telangana and Karnataka by presenting cases of Microsoft & ICRISAT and ADAMA India Ltd.

Published Date: 2019-11-06; Received Date: 2019-08-24