Google expands India-first agricultural AI APIs to APAC countries

New Delhi, Oct 24 US tech giant Google on Friday announced that it is expanding its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) API and Agricultural Monitoring and Event Detection (AMED) API, initially launched in India, to "trusted testers" in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Japan.

The ALU API, launched for Indian developers in October 2024, identifies fields, water bodies, and vegetation boundaries. The AMED API enhances ALU by providing field-level insights on the most cultivated crops and their sowing and harvest timelines at individual field levels, with data updates every 15 days helping detect agricultural events.

The freely available APIs leverage remote sensing and machine learning to provide local ecosystems with insights that can help build cost-effective, simple, and targeted agricultural solutions, the statement said.

“These local use cases have delivered on our ambition for AI to assist targeted, data-driven action and solutions that benefit stakeholders across India’s agriculture landscape,” said Alok Talekar, Lead, Agriculture and Sustainability Research, Google DeepMind.

Google highlighted Indian deployments as evidence for wider regional application, saying that the APIs have aided startups, government projects, and research institutions in enhancing sustainability and resilience in the country’s agricultural sector.

Together, these models provide essential information and insights that serve as a base layer for the agriculture ecosystem to develop precision agriculture tools, optimise resource allocation, and improve farm management practices, Google said.

India is integrating APIs into Krishi DSS, an Amnex platform for the agriculture ministry, to enhance advanced analytics for policymakers and field officers.

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water plans to use APIs to create targeted income-support mechanisms that promote climate-friendly crops. Google mentioned that startups use APIs to improve climate-smart advisory services for over 10 million farmers and to optimise rural credit processes.

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