Next Step in Agriculture is Artificial Intelligence Around 42% of people in India get their employment from agriculture but its GDP (gross domestic product) contribution is only 18-19%. There are several reasons for this but the one which stands out is the lack of technological advancement in agriculture. There are many schemes and programs to help and boost the overall productivity in agriculture on the other hand implementation of these schemes is another challenge. Recently, the central government has launched an AI chatbot for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samaan Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. The chatbot is available in 5 different languages but soon will be available in 22 different languages. The introduction of this AI chatbot is aimed at improving the efficiency and widening the reach of the Kisan scheme. What is PM-Kisan The Pradhan Mantri-Kisan Samaan Nidhi Scheme is a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in which the beneficiaries will get rupees 6000 per month in three equal installments from the central government directly into their bank accounts. It is a central sector scheme implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare with 100% funding from the central government. The application, correction, and related modifications can be carried out in the PM-Kisan mobile app. The farmers can also see the history of the amount credited into their bank accounts. The AI(Artificial Intelligence) chatbot will act as a guide to the beneficiaries, which will provide them with fast and timely responses to their queries. This marks the first chatbot to be integrated with any major flagship scheme to provide information and help farmers with their queries. The chatbot is accessible through the mobile application and is integrated with Bhashini (India’s digital platform which gives multilingual support). This platform will work as a grievance redressal mechanism and provide user-friendly interaction. In its first phase, the chatbot will answer questions related to the application status of farmers, payment details, ineligibility status, and other scheme-related updates. Way Ahead The integration of Artificial Intelligence technology with almost every aspect of life is now the need of the hour. On the contrary, this also poses a challenge, as to educating the farmers to use and get accustomed to the use of Chatbot. The technological literacy among the agriculture community is not very high and it will pose as an administrative hurdle. The relief in this is the use of these AI Chatbots, mobile applications is not very complicated and India is slowly but steadily going to overcome this hurdle. Post navigation Artificial Intelligence – कृषि में अगला कदम
