Microsoft India's latest app advises farmers on best time to sow crops

In collaboration with International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Andhra Pradesh government, Microsoft India has developed a new mobile application for farmers. This application advises farmers on the best time to sow crops depending on weather conditions, soil and other indicators. This app will also act as a personalised village advisory dashboard for Andhra Pradesh.

“Bringing a lot of scattered data together and developing an analytical tool that is comprehensive and gives accurate predictions to the farmers, is urgently needed. We are excited to work with Microsoft to enhance incomes and improve the lives of small holder farmers, and this is going to boost our digital agriculture initiative in a big way,” said David Bergvinson, Director General of ICRISAT.

ICRISAT used Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite including Machine Learning and Power BI to interface with weather forecasting models provided by US based aWhere Inc. and extensive data including rainfall over the last 45 years as well as 10 years of groundnut sowing progress data for Kurnool district. This data is then downscaled to build predictability and guide farmers to pick the ideal sowing week.

Commenting on this development, Anil Bhansali, Managing Director, Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd., said, “We are pleased to support ICRISAT to drive impact for farmers through our technology. Agriculture is a crucial economic contributor in India, and the implementation of advanced analytics in agriculture will help streamline and strengthen farming practices. The Sowing App and Personalized Village Advisory Dashboard are developed to provide powerful cloud-based predictive analytics to empower farmers with crucial information and insights to help reduce crop failures and increase yield, in turn, reducing stress and generating better income. We firmly believe in the potential of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and Power BI to bring efficiencies not only in agriculture, but also in healthcare, education, and beyond. This is a significant start for digital agriculture and can reap benefits in multiple ways as governments and stakeholders discover the potential for technology to unlock and offer multiple solutions for famers.”