WEF’s ‘Saagu Baagu’ pilot benefits Telangana farmers

WEF’s ‘Saagu Baagu’ pilot benefits Telangana farmers

Subject :Economy

Section: Msc

In News: Telangana’s “Saagu Baagu” (agricultural advancement) pilot project with the guidance of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has impacted the lives of over 7,000 chilli farmers in the State and the second phase of the project is set to take off.

Key Points:

• The impact on the lives of these farmers has been created by providing them access to agtech services such as AI-based advisories, soil testing, produce quality testing and e-commerce under “Saagu Baagu” pilot project.
• Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation” (AI4AI) initiative is the crux of the “Saagu Baagu” project, addressing the challenges of  fragmented technological infrastructure, high costs of operations, lack of access to data and limited technical expertise, while hampering the scale of their impact.
• AI4AI aims to transform the agriculture sector in India by promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.
• The “Saagu Baagu” project focuses on transformation of each agriculture value chain by easing agri-tech services delivery to the end customer through administrative, policy support and through digital public infrastructure.
• aim to empower farmers with data-driven crop advisories and market intelligence, ultimately striving to foster agricultural prosperity
• The project was initiated in 2022 and is being implemented by Digital Green (in consortium with three agritech start-ups) with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• In 2nd phase the project will be scaled up from 2023 onwards to 20,000 chilli and groundnut farmers in three districts.
• India’s first agricultural sandbox, an agricultural data exchange and agri-data management framework will be included in this phase to support agritech services.