‘AI solution to weather forecasting puzzle’

Academic says many countries use modern technologies in agriculture

MULTAN:

The Vice Chancellor of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture Multan (MNSUAM), Asif Ali, said on Sunday that artificial intelligence could help improve the agriculture sector by providing facilities in different ways.

Such ways included forecasting weather changing patterns, temperature, moisture, speed of wind, soil condition, harvesting technology, detection of disease in crops/plants, poor plant nutrition, and it could present precise solution to all the problems of crops.

He said, “Agriculture is the backbone of country’s economy. It accounts for nearly 19% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With agro-based products, the sector fetches 80% of the country’s total export earnings. More than 42 percent of the labour force is directly or indirectly engaged with agriculture sector.”

Agriculture sector offers raw materials to major industries including textile, leather, rice processing, edible oil, sugar and some others.

However, this very much important sector is faced with many challenges including poor quality seeds, substandard fertilizers, fake pesticides, attack of different diseases on crops, low fertility of soil, weeds, excessive use of pesticides as well as some other toxic chemicals and above all, conventional ways of agricultural practices, said Asif.

He hinted that many countries, including America, China, and the European nations, achieved commendable successes in the agriculture sector by utilizing modern technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI) in the agriculture sector.

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Artificial intelligence in the agriculture sector is playing an important role in resolving problems, including management of crops, soil, water, climate changes and even marketing of agricultural products in different developed countries of the world.

“However, our country is lagging behind in this field,” said the vice chancellor of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, Dr Asif Ali.

For example, he elaborated, a drone camera flies over a field and takes images of fields within a few minutes.

The images, taken through drone camera, could easily identify the affected areas of the crop.

With the help of AI, a better and timely decision for the treatment of the damaged portions of the field could be taken.

Modern spray machines with some particular sensors for detection and elimination of harmful weeds in the agriculture fields could be introduced by the dint of artificial technology in the country.

In this way, the farmers can apply pesticides at targeted areas. “It will not only be cost effective but also help in keeping environment safe and secure from excessive use of chemicals,” he added.

Dr Irfan Jafar, Head of the Department of Software Engineering at the Superior University, also supported artificial intelligence in all sectors.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2022.