Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network 2023-2024

16 Action: Through a pilot programme in Telangana state involving 7,000 chili farmers, the programme called Saagu Baagu was able to demonstrate the transformative potential of agricultural technology (agritech) on both farmers’ incomes and the environmental impact of agriculture. Based on the encouraging results, the Government of Telangana has decided to scale the initiative to 500,000 farmers and implement the state’s first agricultural data exchange. AI4AI has also built on the success of the Telangana pilot and launched the programme in two more states, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is now exploring the opportunity to expand the learnings across the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network and governments globally. Result: During the reporting period, 50,062 farmersCase study 4: AI for agriculture India Next steps: Expansion plans for the AI4AI initiative include global scaling with two national governments to adopt the AI4AI framework, including Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network governments, and national scaling by implementing the framework across five states in India, which will include strengthening Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, and extending the framework to two new states. In Maharashtra, AI4AI is working to scale gender-inclusive agritech in partnership with the Maharashtra State Women Economic Development Corporation. The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India has been a critical partner for us in conceptualizing Saagu Baagu and Agri Data Exchange, initiatives that highlighted yield, optimal use of inputs and ultimately farmers’ income. Based on the success of the pilot with 7,000 farmers, we have scaled the initiative to 50,000 farmers and plan to scale it to impact 500,000 farmers in the next two years. Rama Devi Lanka Director, Emerging T echnologies, Government of T elangana Context: More than 80% farmers in India are smallholders who own less than 2 hectares of land. Apart from limited access to finance, information and markets, climate change and geopolitical situations are adding to the challenges that these farmers grapple with to sustain their income. The AI4AI initiative has developed a digital agriculture framework aimed at scaling technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the agricultural sector through public-private partnerships to improve farmers’ access to finance, shrink agriculture’s environmental impact and reduce post-harvest supply-chain losses. of whom over 45% were women, saw incremental increase in profits of $800 per acre through a 21% yield improvement and 9% reduction in the use of fertilizers and pesticides.