Lok Sabha Question No. 2258 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-20
Subject: IoT and AI in Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Sushil Kumar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2258

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 TH  DECEMBER, 2022

## IOT AND AI IN AGRICULTURE

## 2258.  SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  considering  any  proposal  of  using  IoT  and  AI  in agriculture;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of applications of IoT and AI in agriculture; and
- (d) the steps being taken by the Government to attract agri-tech funding in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (d): Various  activities  have  been  taken  up  by  the  government,  using  Internet  of Things  (IoT)  and  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  in  agriculture.  Some  of  the  activities  are  given below:
- I. Department of Science & Technology (DST) is implementing a National Mission on  Interdisciplinary  Cyber  Physical  Systems  (NM-ICPS).  Under  the  Mission,  25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) have been set up in premier institutes of national importance across the country in advanced technology verticals. Three of these TIHs are involved in the applications of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in  Agriculture  with  objective  of  carrying  out  research,  translation  and  technology development for various technologies including IoT and AI, namely :
- a. Technology and Innovation Foundation in technology vertical of "Technologies for Agriculture and Water" set up at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar,
- b. TIH  Foundation  of  IOT  and  Internet  of  Everything  (IoE)  in  technology vertical of "Technologies for Internet of Things and Internet for Everything" set up at IIT Bombay

c. AI4ICPS  Foundation  in  technology  vertical  "Artificial  Intelligence  and Machine Learning" set up at IIT Kharagpur.

Some  of  the  applications  of  AI  and  IoT  in  Agriculture  are  in  the  areas  of Precision  Farming,  Agricultural  Drones  and  Hopping  systems,  Livestock  Monitoring, Monitor Climate Conditions, Smart Greenhouses, AI and IoT based Computer imaging etc. The work/activities taken by the above 3 institutes are given below:

a. IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation is working towards IoT based devices  and  sensors  that  are  being  introduced  to  the  saffron  production  and supply all over India.

b. TIH Foundation of IOT and IOE is executing a project of effective and efficient  agriculture  technology,  which  aims  to  develop  an  end  to  end  solution  for Agriculture Technology (AgriTech) to predict crop production in the season. EAgriS is an IoT-based platform developed for this purpose. As an application of IoT in Precision Agriculture, the TIH focuses on Aerial Robotics for Soil Parameters Monitoring, Drone based  Imaging  and  Drone  based  spraying.  For  the  application  of  AI  in  Precision Agriculture, the focus of TIH is to develop a predictive data analysis model to make intelligent decisions based on ambient conditions (temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction rainfall), soil parameters (moisture, temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, NPK, Sulphur) and leaf wetness.

c. AI4ICPS Foundation is developing AI based technologies for Precision Agriculture,  Predictive  and  Forecasting  models  using  AI  for  Crop  Health  Monitoring and Soil health Monitoring.

- II.     Under the Digital India initiatives, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) along with NASSCOM and state governments has set up Centres of  Excellence  on  Internet  of  Things  at  Bengaluru,  Gurugram,  Gandhi  Nagar  and Visakhapatnam. One of the objectives of these centres is to enable India to emerge as an  innovation  hub  in  IoT  through  democratization  of  innovation  and  realization  of prototypes. One of the focus areas of Centres of Excellence on IoT at Visakhapatnam is on Agri-tech and it connects various entities such as startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, government and academia.
- III.     Under  the  National  e-Governance  Plan  in  Agriculture  (NeGPA)  program  under Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare funding is given to State Governments for  Digital  Agriculture  projects  using  emerging  technologies  like  Artificial  Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Internet of Things (IOT), Block chain etc.
- IV.      A  progamme  called  'Innovation  and  Agri-Entrepreneurship  Development'  has been in operation under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) since 2018-19 with the objective to promote innovation and agripreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing  the  incubation  ecosystem.  Start-ups  pertaining  to  agriculture  and  allied sectors are being encouraged in order to contribute directly and indirectly to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunities to them and to provide employment to  youth.  In  this  connection, five  (5)  Knowledge Partners (KPs) and twenty four (24) Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) have been appointed by this Department to advise

on  smooth  and  efficient  execution  of  this  programme  in  various  States  across  the country. The details are at Annexure -I.

Start-ups  under  the  programme  are  taking  up  projects  in  various  fields  of agriculture and allied sectors like Agro-processing, Food Technology & Value Addition, Artificial  Intelligence  (AI),  Internet  of  Things  (IoT),  Information  &  Communication Technology  (ICT),  Block  Chain  Technology  (BCT),  precision  farming  and  Digital agriculture, Block Chain technology, Agri. Logistics, Value & Supply chain management, Online/virtual platform, Agri. Extension, Agri. Inputs, Farm mechanization  & innovations, Organic  farming &  products,  Natural  Resource Management,  Renewable  Energy,  Waste  to  Wealth,  Animal  Husbandry,  Fisheries, Dairy, Secondary agriculture, etc.

So far, 1102 start-ups operating in agriculture and allied sectors have been selected and Rs. 66.83crore has been released in installments. These start-ups were trained for two  months  at  various  agribusiness  incubation  centres  i.e  KPs  &R-ABIs  before providing financial assistance.

- V.    The  Institutes  under  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  have  initiated work on application of IoT and AI in agriculture. A list of activity initiated  is  given  in Annexure-II.
- VI.     Mahalanobis  National  Crop  Forecast  Centre  (MNCFC)  has  conducted  few  pilot studies  under  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana  using  innovative  technologies  for crop yield estimation through various Government and Private Agencies. During 201920, pilot studies were conducted envisaging space technologies through 12 agencies in 64 districts of 15 States for 9 crops, while these approaches were validated in Rabi 2019-20  in  15  blocks  of  6  States.  Further,  during  2020-21,  the  pilot  studies  were scaled  up  to  100  districts  spread  over  9  states  of  the  country,  with  the  help  of  7 agencies for paddy crop in Kharif 2020, which continued in Rabi 2020-21 for Rabi Rice and wheat crop.

Various  technologies  viz.,  Satellite,  Unmanned  Aerial  Vehicles  (UAVs),  Simulation models, IoT devices and AI/ML techniques were used in the study to derive the yield estimates at Gram Panchayat level.

List of 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) and 24 R-ABIs under RKVY Startup programme

## 1. Knowledge Partners (KPs):

- i.  National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad
- ii.  National Institute of Agricultural Marketing(NIAM) Jaipur
- iii.  (3)Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Pusa, New Delhi
- iv.  University of Agriculture Science, Dharwad, Karnataka and
- v.  Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, Assam

## 2. RKVY Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs):

- i.  Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Hisar, Haryana
- ii.  CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishva vidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
- iii.  IIT-BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
- iv.  Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
- v.  ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
- vi.  Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab
- vii.  Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa vidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh
- viii.  Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, J & K
- ix.  IIM, Kashipur, Uttarakhand
- x.  Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala
- xi.  ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, Telangana
- xii.  Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
- xiii.  Agri innovation and entrepreneurship cell, ANGRAU, Andhra Pradesh
- xiv.  National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha
- xv.  S K N Agriculture University, Jobner, Rajasthan
- xvi.  Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal
- xvii.  Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, Bihar
- xviii.  Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat
- xix.  ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- xx.  Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra
- xxi.  ICAR-NIVEDI, Bengaluru, Karnataka
- xxii.  College of Fisheries, Lembucherra, Tripura
- xxiii.  Dept.  of  Veterinary  Medicine  College  of  Veterinary  Sciences  &Animal  Husbandry, Mizoram
- xxiv.  College of Horticulture & Forestry, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh

## Annexure-II

|   S.No. | Activity                                                                                                                                                                 | Application                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Development of image (Visual and X-Ray) based mango sorting and grading system and sensor-based monitoring system with block chain technology for supply chain of banana | For grading of mangoes into different quality grade which is the prime needs for mango processing industries as well as for any commercial applications. Block- chain technology will be used to access and monitor the quality of banana in supply chain and hence traceability of the banana from source till the end point. |
|       2 | Development of IoT-Based Real-Time Intelligent Monitoring and Controlling System for Cold Storage                                                                        | For real-time monitoring and control of micro-environment inside storage room for prediction of status of product quality for commodity being stored.                                                                                                                                                                          |
|       3 | Development of Vision guided AI-enabled Robotic Apple Harvest Under National Programme on Electronics and ICT Applications in Agriculture and Environment.               | For identification of the matured Apples using Machine Vision Techniques and harvesting and safety conveying of apples in a storage unit.                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|       4 | Development of Automatic Jute Grading System.                                                                                                                            | For efficient grading of jute.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|       5 | Development of IoT based irrigation system                                                                                                                               | For automatic and efficient irrigation of agricultural crop.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |

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