How is Microsoft’s AI intervention helping Indian farmers?

An AI Sowing App powered by the Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite, which includes Machine Learning and Power BI, was created by Microsoft in partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Participating farmers receive seeding advice from the app on the best time to sow. The farmers do not have to invest any money or install any sensors in their fields. All they require is a feature phone capable of receiving text messages.

According to Microsoft, the AI Sowing App that was developed draws on more than 30 years of climate data from 1986 to 2015, combined with real-time weather information, and then uses forecasting models to determine the optimal time to plant, the ideal sowing depth, how much manure to apply and much more.

The app was launched in 2016 and 175 groundnut farmers from the state of Andhra Pradesh participated. Based on sowing advisories such as sowing date, land preparation, soil test-based fertilizer application, and so on, farmers are able to achieve a 30% higher yield per hectare than the last year.

A greater range of crops, including maize, rice, and cotton, were covered by the initiative in 2017, which reached more than 3000 farmers. Depending on the crop and the area, the average increase in production that year varied from 10% to 30%, according to Microsoft.

G. Chinnavenkateswarlu, a farmer from Bairavanikunta village in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, took a leap of faith in June 2016. Instead of following the age-old practice of sowing groundnut in early June, he waited until June 25, guided by a text message advisory. The result? A yield of 1.35 tons per hectare, significantly higher than usual.

"Advisories provided for land preparation, sowing, and need-based plant protection proved to be very useful to me," Chinnavenkateswarlu reported.

The program uses AI to analyze 30 years of climate data and calculate the Moisture Adequacy Index (MAI) to determine the optimal sowing period. Dr. Suhas P. Wani, Director of Asia Region at ICRISAT, emphasizes, "Sowing date is very critical to ensure that farmers harvest a good crop. If it fails, it results in loss as a lot of costs are incurred for seeds and fertilizer applications."

Real-time MAI is calculated using daily rainfall data from the Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society, while future MAI predictions come from USA-based aWhere Inc.'s weather forecasting models.

C Madhusudhana, President of the Chaitanya Youth Association and Watershed Community Association of Devanakonda, noted, "Farmers who sowed in the first week of June got meager yields due to a long dry spell in August; while registered farmers who sowed in the last week of June and the first week of July and followed advisories got better yields and avoided losses."

AI for Earth grant recipients 

According to ICRISAT, in 2018, Microsoft announced grants to provide artificial intelligence (AI) technology to organizations engaged in solving environmental challenges.

One of the organizations ICRISAT will receive access to Microsoft Azure and AI computing resources.

India now has the third largest concentration of AI for Earth grantees, following the United States and Canada.

The grantees from India, chosen based on their efforts to conserve protect and rebuild the environment with AI, are:

1. Indian Institute of Technology
2. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad
3. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru
4. Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi
5. Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune
6. India Institute of Science, Bangalore
7. Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune 

NITI Aayog and Microsoft collaboration

In 2018, NITI Aayog and Microsoft India announced an agreement to leverage the benefits of AI for the growth of the nation. Under the agreement, Microsoft was to provide NITI Aayog with advanced AI-based solutions to address challenges in agriculture. Microsoft was set to develop farm advisory services to help increase crop yield, pest detection, and pest incident prediction as part of projects across locations identified by NITI Aayog.

What started as a pilot program with 175 farmers in 2016 expanded to over 3,000 farmers across Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in 2017. The program now covers a variety of crops including groundnut, ragi, maize, rice, and cotton, with yield increases ranging from 10% to 30%.

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