Agdhi’s mission: Making Indian agriculture hi-tech

BENGALURU, January 11, 2021: Artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision aren’t terms one usually associates with agriculture. Imagine using these technologies instead of traditional techniques to test the quality of seeds and crops! This technology disruption is just what agritech startup Agdhi wants to bring along.

The first among their technologies that the company recently introduced is a vision enabled AI-based technology that makes use of machine learning and computer vision techniques to detect the defects in the seeds and crops. This enables the farmers to use the best quality raw material, with a test that takes a few seconds instead of using traditional methods which has the scope for human error to creep in.

Founder, Nikhil Das stressed the need for innovation, technological intervention and disruption in the agriculture sector in India. “Agriculture is both a major industry and foundation of the economy. Today, the sector is looking for innovative approaches in protecting and improving crop yield. We plan to introduce next generation electronics products optimized for agriculture required in this endeavour,” he said.

The resulting improvements seed testing, seed sampling and crop yield is the need of the hour, Agdhi believes. The traditional method of detecting seed defects typically relies on manual inspection, which is resource hectic and subjective. Therefore, an objective and automated seed screening method was required.

Thus, Agdhi through AI (artificial intelligence) vision technology, photometry, radiometry and computer vision offers efficient methods for seed classification and seed quality analysis. The technology assesses seeds on factors such as color, texture, size, and shape on the basis of images. This assessment of seeds through various classifiers based on computer vision is a completely automated process, making it a much more efficient method for seed sorting than being inspected by human labor.

Das also informed that the company was in the process of developing other useful agricultural devices by making use of technologies like block chain, edge computing, artificial intelligence, internet of things and microbiology. He believes that novel and innovative technologies need to be introduced in the seed testing and seed sampling to help the farmers in getting good yield.