A pilot project is being implemented across 100 locations in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra
Nokia, Vodafone India Foundation to improve farmers’ productivity in India. (Credit: Pexels from Pixabay.)
Nokia, a Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer, has collaborated with Vodafone India Foundation to install Smart Agriculture solution to enhance the productivity of farmers in India.
Vodafone India Foundation is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Vodafone Idea (VIL), which is a partnership between Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group.
The pilot project is being conducted across 100 locations in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The new SmartAgri solution is expected to benefit more than 50,000 farmers in the region by improving their productivity and income.
It uses Nokia’s Worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) Network Grid (WING) solution and helps to ensure precise and practical data for farmers enabling them to enhance productivity.
VIL chief regulatory and corporate affairs officer P. Balaji said: “Vi CSR is committed to leveraging technology strengths to create social impact through sustainable solutions.
“Smart crop management using Smart IoT and AI-based solutions is transforming the prevalent agricultural practices into more ‘intelligent’ ones enabling farmers with smart decision making and helping them improve production and crop quality through better utilization of resources.”
As part of this project, more than 400 sensors have been installed over 100,000 hectares of farmland.
The sensors will help to collect various data points which are then analysed by a cloud-based and localized Smart Agriculture application.
The SmartAgri app supports local language and provides weather forecast and irrigation management information.
Nokia said that the installation of the smart agriculture-as-a-service solution will include soil probes, weather stations, insect traps and crop cameras which will help to drive the productivity of soy and cotton crops.
The crop management through WING solution includes smart irrigation, smart pesticide control, proactive information sharing frameworks on crops and weather and a platform for commodity exchange.