The Wadhwani AI, an independent not-for-profit research institute that focuses on developing and promoting Artificial Intelligence (AI) based applications, is now looking to team-up with start-ups supporting the agri-tech space to increase income and yield for the farmers. 

Wadhwani AI senior director-Programs Rajesh Jain told Telangana Today, “We realise that through private sector support, we can reach maximum farmers not only in India but across the world with our solution and technology to save their crop. We are actively engaged with agri-tech startups to make disruption happen in agriculture and faster.”

“One of the largest integrated pest management startups Plantix, based out of Germany, approached us when we got the Google AI Impact Challenge grant in 2019. The startup through its mobile crop advisory app covers 40 crops and 400 diseases and helps farmers to identify the disease real-time and give recommendations. We have entered into a memorandum of understanding with them to work together. The company wants our AI solution to be integrated with their app and we are in discussion,” he informed.

Apart from Plantix, similar companies have also approached the organisation for collaboration. From CropIn, a Bengaluru-based software company as a service (SaaS) based solutions to agricultural companies to Scotland-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), a vertical farming technology startup have approached Wadhwani AI for partnership. The organisation has been approached by Odisha-based eKutir which has developed a decentralised, risk-mitigated and transparent system to help farmers across India. 

Wadhwani AI, along with cotton farmer-supporting organisations such as IDH, Welspun Foundation and the Better Cotton Initiative, a collective that supports 19% of cotton farmers across the world, to test its AI solution that detects early pest infestation. This AI solution is being tested among 18,000 farmers across Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The solution will be shared with the cotton farmers by the State governments of Telangana and Maharashtra. “We have built our solution in such a way that it fits into the existing government framework, workflows and technology platform,” Jain added.

In addition, Wadhwani AI is exploring the possibilities of developing an interactive voice response (IVR) system to inform and advise farmers in local languages in India. The International Cotton Advisory Council has partnered with the organisation to scale this solution, globally, across the world. 

Going forward, he said, “We are also looking into other aspects related to cotton farming that include water management, soil and nutrient management where AI can help to improve the ability to save crops. We are exploring a multi-modal approach to come out with predictive models.”