How Maha Agri Tech project aims to mitigate risks in farming?

The Maha Agri Tech project is the best example of using technology to address various cultivation risks ranging from poor rains to pest attacks, accurately predict crop-wise and area-wise yield and eventually to use this data to inform policy decisions including pricing, warehousing and crop insurance.

 Maha Agri Tech project

• In the first phase, the project used satellite images and analysis from the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad to assess the acreage and the conditions of select crops in select talukas.
• In the second phase, the project aims to combine various data sets from diverse data providers to build yield modelling and a geospatial database of soil nutrients, rainfall, moisture stress and other parameters to facilitate location-specific advisories to farmers.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence

The project aims to predict indicative crop yield prediction through an accurate analysis of highly localised soil health/moisture conditions using satellite imagery combined with artificial intelligence, policy decisions and advisories ranging from crop suitability, inventory, crop damage assessment.

The Maha Agri Tech will go a long way in long-term risk mitigation in agriculture which has remained highly vulnerable to changes in weather patterns on account of a very low percentage of farmland being covered by canal irrigation systems.

Topics: GS-III: E-Technology in the Aid of Farmers