AI sows seeds to sustain farms

Workers at Niqo Robotics riding a tractor with an AI-powered spot sprayer at a testing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru. — AFP

Each morning, Indian farmer R. Murali opens an app on his phone to check if his pomegranate trees need watering, fertiliser or are at risk from pests.

“It is a routine,” Murali, 51, said at his farm in the southern state of Karnataka. “Like praying to God every day.”