NE AGRI BUREAU
BANGALORE, JULY 18
Integrated agriculture services major Lawrencedale Agro Processing India (LEAF) on Sunday announced that it is aligning with Japan-based Sagri, an innovative technology company, which leverages agricultural big data with satellite data for improvement of farming ecosystem.
LEAF and Sagri are aligning to disrupt the field of information sourced from satellites and making it meaningful for marginalised tribal farmers who are struggling to increase their productivity.
“Since satellite data can be obtained over a wide area and in a homogeneous manner, its usefulness is expected. However, on the other hand, it is difficult for end users to directly utilize satellite data. It is this gap that LEAF-Sagri partnership will address and provide information appropriately,” said Satoshi Nagata of Sagri. Sagri specialises in harnessing satellite data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine learning, and GRID/Polygon mapping technology striving to solve problems plaguing the agriculture sector.
It is difficult to link satellite data alone to a solution, an algorithm for collation and correlation with data at the actual site is required.
“LEAF’s strategic alignment with Sagri leverages the developments in satellite technology, analyzes the vegetation index acquired from satellite data and uses machine learning technology to solve the major agricultural issues. It is not just an app that provides data that can be obtained from satellites, but an algorithm that connects to the solution,” said Palat Vijayaraghavan, Founder & CEO, LEAF. This pact is part of LEAF’s ‘String of Pearls’ strategy to build an impactful ecosystem as it strives to bring in meaningful technology blended with in-farm nurturing of the marginalised and tribal farmers who are fighting a day-to-day battle for survival.
LEAF which has deep expertise in improving the livelihood of marginalised farmers through comprehensive technological interventions is bringing this solution as part of its efforts to roll out phygital (integration of physical and digital model) service delivery concept to the various marginalised agriculture belts in the country.
The solution uses satellite imagery to calculate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of the farmland over a period of time. In other words, NDVI is a measure to calculate farm production and productivity. With this wealth of information about farmland and with its proprietary technology, LEAF-Sagri team helps farmers increase their harvest quality and yields.
LEAF-Sagri solutions further brings to the table the aspect of Farmer Credit Scoring technologies using satellite imagery, soil sampling and testing to understand farmers’ farmland productivity and fertility.
“We use satellite imagery to calculate the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) of the farmland over a period of time. This is further helped by additional data such as area of farmland, distance of the farmland from the main road, water supply and weather or climate within that region,” added Vijayaraghavan.
LEAF-Sagri partnership will work on solutions to predict harvest yields and improve nutrition content. The platform analyzes satellite data using AI technology and by letting AI learn the characteristics of satellite data in various states on the ground, it will create a state in which AI can make predictions.
“When we can predict the quality of the produce along with the yield, it gives the farming ecosystem with much needed confidence to come with multiple services such access to organised farm credit and farm insurance,” said Vijayaraghavan.
According to a Ken Research report, the Indian Agritech market was expected to grow at a CAGR (revenue) of 32 per cent from FY20 to FY25. Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi-NCR had the most number of agri-tech startups in the country. However, the penetration of agritech solutions among the Indian farmers was low and just 9 to 10 per cent, the report added.
