NEW DELHI: Days after its Budget announcement, the agriculture ministry on Tuesday launched the AI-enabled ‘Bharat-VISTAAR’ (Virtually Integrated System for Access to Agricultural Resources) which will help farmers in taking farm-level decisions by receiving personalized, date-based digital advice.Launched as India hosts the AI Impact Summit, Bharat-VISTAAR is a multilingual AI tool that will integrate AgriStack and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) portals on agricultural practices with AI systems.Its use is expected to enhance farm productivity, enable farmers to make better decisions and reduce risks by providing tailored advisory support related to weather, market prices, pests and diseases, soil health, crop management and information on key central government plans.Describing Bharat-VISTAAR as a ‘ask and get live answers’ platform, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said farmers will not have to make office rounds or face problems with digital applications.“They will now just have to call 155261 by picking up a mobile phone and ask any question related to the farm. They will now just have to call 155261 by picking up a mobile phone and ask any question related to the farm,” Chouhan said while launching the first phase of the Bharat-Vistaar project. They will get an instant answer in the person’s local language about which medicine (insecticide/insecticide) to apply, when to sow and what rates (crop selling price) are available in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Delhi and Mumbai markets.”
The scheme, which is designed to act as an “AI-based digital security shield”, was initially launched in Hindi and English. Farmers will eventually be able to interact in 11 languages under the system in the future.A farmer identity card is also being created under the system which will contain all the information about the farmer, Chouhan said. “Preparations are underway to link the entire agricultural system with the Bharat Vistar scheme,” he added.Currently, two central schemes like ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ and ‘Soil Health Card’ are included in this scheme. Information about all major central schemes for farmers will be available through it in due course.On this occasion, the Minister also unveiled the farmer-focused AI Hackathon and the “Kosh Agricultural AI Strategy Roadmap”, with a focus on innovative solutions to agricultural challenges.
