Advancements in science and healthcare services have triggered population growth. It is estimated that up to 2050, the total population of the world would rise to 9 billion. To meet the food requirements of all the people in the world, it would require a 70% increase in agricultural production than the present. The decline in inland water levels and unfavourable weather conditions are already creating a challenge for the agriculture industry. More efficient and smart solutions are needed to be implemented to improve the productivity of crops. It consumes a lot of time and energy to implement manual farming techniques which require human beings to invest a lot of time and hard work to get better crop yield. Instead of all due efforts and care, it is impossible to manage the broad level farming manually.
Smart software solutions can be implemented on broad levels of the agricultural industry to manage all the processes involved in farming. The advanced technology where human intelligence, perception, reasoning and problem-solving skills are implemented into the devices ie. artificial intelligence, has proved to be a milestone in generating fast and efficient results and is serving various sectors of global industry. This technology is used in self-operated cars, projector machinery, automated customer service solutions, robotic equipment and lifts to provide human-like assistance.
AI used in agriculture can increase crop productivity by following methods:
-Weather Forecasting: Global warming, Ozone layer depletion, deforestation and increasing pollution have disturbed the normal weather cycles. Hence the farmers remain uncertain about favourable climates to grow particular crops. It causes heavy losses sometimes due to heavy rain or drought conditions. Weather monitoring facilitated by AI devices helps the farmers to analyse the appropriate time to sow the seeds of a particular crop. These devices help them to get exact information about rain, hailstorms, winds and favourable days to collect the harvest.
-Soil and crop health monitoring system: The nutritious capability of soil plays a major role in improving the productivity of crops. The regular monitoring of crops is necessary to check any pest growth on the crop or attack of any harmful insects on growing crops. Some of the leading companies that develop artificial intelligence devices, has developed smart AI solutions to check the nutrition level of the soil by imaging process. These advanced interpretations help the farmers to use pesticides and fertilizers on an earlier basis ensuring better productivity. Drone-based aerial image monitoring facilitates a better check on crop health. The real-time and accurate data about the crop is captured by the drone and is transferred via smart networking to the computers used by experts. The server company anticipates the data and generates crop health reports for the farmers.
Appropriate measures are taken by the farmers to check the growth of pests, fungus or any other crop diseases.
–Agricultural robotics: Smart robotic solutions are being developed by AI companies that are capable of performing multiple tasks in farming. These robots are specially trained to detect any weeds in the crop and enhance crop productivity. These are capable of performing various farming activities more smartly and efficiently than human beings.
-Precision farming and predictive analysis: AI-enabled irrigation controllers help the farmers to maintain water supply in the farms. AI applications provide proper guidance about the rotational crop, nutrition level of soil, the water-absorbent capacity of the soil, timely harvesting, optimum planting and pest control. These devices generate real-time data about the temperature, precipitation, humidity and rainfall of the farming area. The real-time alerts about the unfavourable weather conditions or any other drawback that can hinder the process of better crop productivity, prepare the farmers to pre-plan measures needed to minimise the bad effects of any unfavourable condition.
AI used in agriculture reduces the losses faced by farmers and state governments. They become much capable of generating as much crop as needed to meet the food requirements of the population.