Agriculture ministry launches Bharat-VISTAAR, a multilingual AI tool for digital fam advisories | India News
New Delhi: Days after the announcement in the Budget, the agriculture ministry on Tuesday launched AI-enabled ‘Bharat-Vista’ (virtually integrated system for accessing agricultural resources) that will help farmers take farm-level decisions by receiving date-driven customized digital advice.Launched at a time when India is hosting the AI Impact Summit, Bharat-VISTAAR is a multilingual AI tool that will integrate the AgriStack portal and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) package with AI systems for farm practices.Its use is expected to increase agricultural productivity, enable better decision making for farmers and reduce risk by providing customized advisory support on weather, market prices, pests and diseases, soil health, crop management and information on major central government schemes.Terming Bharat-Bista as a platform to “ask and get direct answers”, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said farmers need not roam around offices or struggle with digital applications.“They now just need to pick up a mobile phone and dial 155261 and ask any farm-related query. They will get an instant answer in the local language on what drug (insecticide/insecticide) to apply, when to sow and what rate (sale price of grain) is available during the first phase of launch in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Mumbai, Delhi, Chorapur, Delhi. India-Bista.The scheme, coined as “AI-based digital security shield”, has initially been launched in Hindi and English languages. Farmers will eventually be able to communicate in 11 languages under the system in future.Chauhan said that a farmer identity card is also being developed under the system which will contain all the information about the farmer. “India is preparing to connect the entire agricultural system with the VISTAAR project,” he added.Currently, some central schemes like ‘Pradhan Mantri Fall Bima Yojana’ and ‘Soil Health Card’ are included in the scheme. Timely information of all major central schemes for farmers will be available through it.On the occasion, the minister unveiled the farmer-focused AI Hackathon and the ‘Agri Kosh AI Strategy Roadmap’, emphasizing innovative solutions to agricultural challenges.
