The students of IIT-Guwahati, NIT-Silchar and Dibrugarh University together have created a multi-lingual app – AgSpeak – for farmers with the goal of leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for increased production. The app will help farmers manage their farming needs and remotely monitor distress activities through their smartphones or computers. 

"India is a leading agricultural country with immense potential, yet 2 bn people globally did not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food in 2019 alone. To end this global starvation, we need to double agricultural productivity in the next 15 years. Unless we use technology appropriately in the agricultural sector, this would be impossible," said IIT Guwahati Director TG Sitharam. 

AgSpeak uses the satellite feed of the hyperlocal crop data and smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices to consider over 20 indicators to indicate crop health such as rainfall, sunlight hours, soil health status. These indicators alert farmers about issues that may affect crops in advance, while also sharing best practices to circumvent issues, thereby optimising resources and maximise productivity. 

"The app along with IoT hardware has been tested for the past three months with 500 farmers and two tea estates. Some of the major breakthroughs by the algorithm were a precise prediction of blight in potato and tea mosquito bug, along with water stress in winter crops. These are major reasons of woes to farmers and small tea growers of Assam and cause lakhs in crop damage if not controlled in time," said Manik Mittal, an IIT-Guwahati student. 

Addition 250 farmers have been onboarded on the app too, with proper training. "The ease of use and multilingual features of the app make it easy of farmers to use," said Akash Sharma, another IIT Guwahati student. The app which is completely free for small farmers has additional in-app purchases like soil-testing and agri-doctor consultations. "The IoT devices can be rented on monthly or yearly bases by commercial farms to further enhance precision farm management. It has been testes with many farmers and its practical utility established," said Akash.