AI platform for giving farm-related info and chatbot to clear doubts of ryots

Hyderabad: Automation is sweeping several segments and agriculture is also coming under its fold. While core areas of it are still labour intensive, farming related information and knowledge dissemination are getting a push with artificial intelligence tools. City-based AitoBi Technologies has created an artificial intelligence and natural language processing-based chatbot called the Kisan Assist. It […]

Hyderabad: Automation is sweeping several segments and agriculture is also coming under its fold. While core areas of it are still labour intensive, farming related information and knowledge dissemination are getting a push with artificial intelligence tools.

City-based AitoBi Technologies has created an artificial intelligence and natural language processing-based chatbot called the Kisan Assist. It can simulate or engage in human-like conversation and help in providing basic customer support for users. It will automate the responses to farmer queries and is currently available in Telugu, Hindi and English, said Kethuri Raviteja, AitoBi Technolgies Co-Founder.

“Many farmers find it difficult to retrieve information from agricultural websites or the call centres that is relevant to them. The bot understands the user requirements and then reverts with relevant information from the datapool. Further, frequent queries from users can be handled easily,” he said. The bot can attached to the website or an application and many users can access it simultaneously for information relating to subsidies, loan schemes, weather info and crop details, he said.

It will also has capabilities to analyse pictures of soil or pest attacks and accordingly recommend the corrective actions that can be taken. “The chatbot can be deployed in regional languages with proper data. Also, it can be trained to provide advanced support and provide more critical information. It can be built for mobile applications as well. The data collected can be used for further insights,” Raviteja said.

The chatbot can be the first level support of a call centre and aid in reducing the manpower or reserving them for high order works. “It can send updates to farmers on new schemes, weather information, crop insurance, advisories and government subsidies and more without having the need to sift through multiple databases,” he said.

“Farmers seek weather information as rains wash away the sprayed pesticides. Crop-related information such as suitable soil, sowing time, fertilizer and irrigation and harvesting time can also be provided,” he said adding that a voice-input facility can also be incorporated to help the farmers give in their queries.

Using natural language processing, the farmer queries are matched with trained intents and relevant responses are provided. The company has also developed a ‘Textractor’, which will extract relevant texts from data sources like invoices, project reports and others. This will sift through voluminous data. This is one of the startups supported by Telangana Artificial Intelligence Mission.