New Delhi: Days after the Budget announcement, the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday launched the artificial intelligence-powered ‘Bharat-VISTAAR’ (Virtual Integrated System for Access to Agricultural Resources), which will help farmers in farm-level decision-making by receiving data-driven customized digital advisory.Launched as India hosts the AI Impact Summit, Bharat-VISTAAR is a multi-lingual AI tool that integrates the AgriStack portal and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) farm practices package with AI systems.Its use is expected to increase agricultural productivity, provide farmers with better decision-making and reduce risk by providing customized advisory support related to weather, market prices, pests and diseases, soil health, crop management and information on key central government schemes.Calling Bharat-VISTAAR a platform to “ask questions and get direct answers”, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said farmers do not have to rush to offices or bother with digital applications.“They can now just pick up their mobile phones and call 155261 to ask any farm-related question. They will get immediate answers in their local language about which medicine (pesticides/insecticides) to use, when to sow and the price (crop selling price) in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Delhi or Mumbai markets,” Chouhan said while launching the first phase of Bharat-VISTAAR.The initiative is designed as an “AI-based digital security shield” and will initially be launched in Hindi and English. In the future, farmers will eventually be able to interact in 11 languages under the system.Chouhan said the system is also creating farmer identity cards, which will contain all the information about the farmers. “Preparations are being made to connect the entire farming system with the Bharat VISTAAR scheme,” he added.Currently, several central schemes such as ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ and ‘Soil Health Card’ are included in the scheme. Information on all major central schemes for farmers will be made available through it in due course.On the occasion, the minister also unveiled a farmer-focused AI hackathon and the ‘Agri Kosh Artificial Intelligence Strategic Roadmap’, emphasizing innovative solutions to challenges in agriculture.
