Microsoft India to provide farm advisory services to increase crop yield

Microsoft India is currently working to make the most of technology adoption to incite efficiency in the Indian agriculture sector. The company will be focusing on providing farm advisory services to help boost crop yield, pest detection as well as pest occurrence predictions.

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It said that “Armed with superior information technology (IT) systems like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and research, Microsoft India will involve applying remote sensing, data science and image processing apps to crop maps, yield data and weather data collected over five years. The pest risk detection model will also provide information 5 days prior to expected attacks.”

The company also signed an agreement with NITI Aayog to ensure a national benefit to leverage the advantages of AI for agricultural growth and development. Under the accord, Microsoft will provide advanced AI-based solutions to Niti Aayog for addressing challenges in agriculture.

As a part of projects across locations recognized by NITI Aayog, Microsoft has also accelerated the utilization of AI for expansion and adoption of local language computing, besides building capacity for AI among the employees through education.

Chief executive officer of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said, “AI should be brought to support sectors like agriculture, which is most important for the inclusive development of the country. Also there is a need to utilize the power of AI to build understanding of the different regional languages prevailing in India. Moreover, this collaboration will help us move beyond pilot projects and comprehend ways to extend AI implementation in the agriculture sector.”