India is an agrarian economy with ~54.6% of people directly dependant on agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. In recent years, we have extended the adoption of emerging technology to improve our agricultural practices, efforts, crops, and ROI.

“I see a big role for AI in empowering agriculture, healthcare, education, creating next-generation urban infrastructure and addressing urban issues,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment Summit, RAISE 2020. 

Indian agriculture has its own challenges like lack of proper infrastructure, lack of knowledge, faith in conventional styles, lack of awareness, and scarcity of farmer capital. Owing to the lack of knowledge, many times, the farmers face difficulties in deciding the right kind of seeds, time to sow, and what is best for the crops.

According to the Economic Survey 2020-2, GDP contribution by the agriculture sector is likely to be 19.9% in 2020-21, increasing from 17.8% in 2019-20. Even during the last two COVID affected years, the agriculture sector exhibited growth of 3.4% in 2020-21, while the entire economy contracted by 7.2%.

We all by now know that the combination of technology and agriculture is called Agri-Tech. The Indian agri-tech market, presently valued at USD 204 million and is expected to undergo exponential transformation owing to the adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence and supportive government policies.

Let's see in what ways is AI boosting agriculture:

• Detection of pests and weeds
• Agricultural Robotics
• Precision farming with the help of predictive analytics
• Crop health assessment through drones
• Soil monitoring system
• AI-based price forecasting of crops based on historical data
• Weather forecast to predict unfavourable weather conditions

Artificial intelligence is expected to play a key role in the growth of Indian agriculture relieving the sector from stressful conditions and catalyzing shift towards data-driven farming, according to a Nasscom-Ernst & Young report titled ‘Leveraging AI to maximize India’s agriculture output.’ 

As mentioned by Naman Agrawal, Senior Associate, NITI Aayog and Himanshu Agrawal, Young Professional, NITI Aayog, advancements in computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are enabling the development and deployment of remote sensing technologies to identify and manage plants, weeds, pests, and diseases. This also provides a unique opportunity to develop intelligent seeding methods for precise fertilization. Artificial intelligence solutions can enable farmers not to only reduce wastage, but also improve quality and ensure faster market access for the produce.

Many young minds, startups, and organizations are coming forward to devise newer ways to amalgamate technology and agriculture. According to Tracxn Technologies, there are around 72 AI in Agriculture startups in India. 

Microsoft in collaboration with ICRISAT (International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), developed an AI Sowing App powered by Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite including Machine Learning and Power BI. The app sends sowing advisories to participating farmers on the optimal date to sow. The best part – the farmers don’t need to install any sensors in their fields or incur any capital expenditure. All they need is a feature phone capable of receiving text messages.

 Sowing dates are critical to ensure that farmers harvest a good crop and reap the best benefits. Increasing knowledge around technology-aided agriculture and high internet penetration is boosting the growth in the sector. The government is also providing support to agri-tech by encouraging public-private partnerships and awarding grants.

According to Bain & Company’s “Indian Agriculture: Ripe for Disruption” report, the favourable impact of govt initiatives is expected to take the market valuation to US$ 30-35 billion by 2025. India is the world's third-largest recipient of agritech funding after the US and Germany and has the third-largest number of agritech start-ups after the US and the UK. In 2020, India received investments worth US$ 329 million from PE/VC firms and registered a staggering CAGR of ~53% from 2017 (US$ 91 million) to 2020 (US$ 329 million).

With such government support, India’s agricultural value chain is expected to witness growth across the whole ecosystem in the coming decades. India is about to transform its agriculture and is hence attracting private equity and venture capital investments.