AI helps Indian farms

ROUTINE: SOIL, NUTRIENTS, WEATHER REPORTS COME TOGETHER

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» AI tools help farmers be more efficient and effective while saving costs.

Each morning Indian farmer R Murali opens an app on his phone to check if his pomegranate trees need watering, fertiliser or are at risk from pests.

"It is a routine," Murali, 51, said at his farm in the southern state of Karnataka. "Like praying to God every day." Much of India's vast agricultural economy - employing more than 45% of the workforce - remains deeply traditional, beset by problems made worse by extreme weather driven by climate change.

Murali is part of an increasing number of growers in the world's most populous nation who have adopted artificial intelligence-powered tools which, he says, helps him farm "more efficiently and effectively".