AI to reshape India’s agricultural future: district collector Ashima Mittal

Lokmat News Network

Jalna:

Artificial Intelligence will play a decisive role in transforming India’s agriculture sector, district collector Ashima Mittal said at a pre-summit workshop of the IndiaAI Impact Summit organised under the union ministry of electronics and information technology at the DPC Hall district collector office on Tuesday.

The programme was jointly organised by the district administration, MAGIC–ITI Jalna, and Findability Sciences. Mittal said AI aids precise decision-making in crop planning, pest control, climate risks and market fluctuations. She informed that 50 farmers may be selected for intensive AI training as ‘role model farmers’, with workshops to be conducted through MAGIC. Keynote speaker Anand Mahurkar, founder of Findability Sciences, said AI enhances human intelligence and its adoption is inevitable, highlighting applications in crop forecasting, farm modelling, IoT and predictive analytics. A panel comprising Dr Prasanna Bhogale, Dr Mandar Kulkarni, Dr Deepak Bornare, Dr Gopal Shinde, Saurabh Kadam and Pooja Gosher discussed commercialisation, affordability, scalability and trust issues. MAGIC managing director Prasad Kokil stressed trust, training and handholding, while director Ritesh Mishra called for coordinated efforts among farmers, technology providers and the government. The session was moderated by Devidas Rathod, with Yashraj Pitti proposing the vote of thanks. Farmers, FPO representatives, startups, academicians and officials attended in large numbers.