AI changing farming scenario; Cows wear smart belts: Maha official

From smart necklaces for cows in Kashmir detecting infections days before symptoms appear to satellites predicting sugarcane sweetness with 95 per cent accuracy, artificial intelligence is already delivering measurable results for millions of smallholder farmers, Maharashtra Resident Commissioner R Vimala said Tuesday at the launch of a compendium of 26 ground-breaking studies.

"AI is not for the privileged few. It's for every farmer in every corner of the Global South," she said at the AI Impact Summit here.

Maharashtra's Department of Agriculture developed the MahaVISTAAR-AI conversational platform in May 2025, which has since provided personalised crop advisories to 2.2 million farmers.

"That's not disruption, it's transformation at scale," Vimala said at the launch of the AI Casebook on Gender and Agriculture.

On soil testing, she said portable devices under the Vasudha and Neo Park programmes use hyperspectral imaging to deliver a complete soil chemical profile on the spot with over 90 per cent accuracy, eliminating weeks-long laboratory wait times.

Combined with satellite data, farmers are reporting yield increases of 20-32 per cent. The compendium also documents Mapmycrop's use of super-resolution satellite imagery to predict sucrose levels in sugarcane with 95 per cent accuracy, resulting in a 57 per cent improvement in yields.

The same satellite infrastructure is being used to generate credit scores for farmers, cutting loan approval times from weeks to days.

Platforms such as RMS for AI and Varaha use MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) frameworks to validate sustainable farming practices like alternative wetting and drying in paddy cultivation in Punjab in minutes, against months of manual monitoring earlier.

On the Kashmir livestock programme, cattle fitted with AI-powered smart necklaces monitor rumination patterns and body temperature, flagging infections and heat stress, days before visual symptoms appear.

Vimala said the compendium stands apart because it documents outcomes already achieved -- yield gains, cost savings, pesticide reduction, and expanded access for women farmers -- rather than future possibilities.

"The future of agriculture isn't just about feeding 10 billion people. It's about doing it equitably, sustainably, and with dignity," she said.