03 May Harnessing artificial intelligence in Agriculture to Empower Small Farmers
छोटे किसानों को सशक्त बनाने के लिए कृषि में आर्टिफ़िशियल इंटेलिजेंस का उपयोग India’s agricultural sector, which employs nearly 50% of the nation’s workforce and contributes around 17-18% to its GDP, faces daunting challenges. Smallholder farmers, who constitute about 85% of the farming population, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and economic instability. Erratic weather patterns, declining productivity, rising input costs, and limited access to resources have created a precarious situation for millions of farming households. An estimated 500 million smallholder farms in the developing world support almost 2 billion people and produce about 80% of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Economic Survey of India (2021-2022), the average annual income of an agricultural household remains as low as ₹8,059, further highlighting the financial struggles of smallholders. Emerging technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), present a unique opportunity to address these challenges, offering innovative solutions to make Indian agriculture more resilient, productive, and sustainable. Challenges of Farmers in India with Respect to Climate Change and Current Coping Mechanisms Indian agriculture is highly dependent on monsoons, with about 60% of the cultivated area being rain-fed. However, climate change has disrupted this dependence, causing erratic rainfall, extended droughts, increased incidences of pest and diseases in crops and severe...