There’s a quiet revolution taking place in agriculture fields in India —one not driven by tractors or tillers, but by AI and machine learning. The change agent is Krishi Mitra, a GenAI-powered voice assistant and the latest innovation in c (ITCMAARS); it is improving livelihoods for farmers by providing personalised agricultural advice and information. What makes it unique is its ability to understand and respond to farmers’ queries in voice and regional languages using Microsoft’s voice-to-text technology. Farmers simply ask their questions and Krishi Mitra generates helpful responses. It’s like having an intelligent friend.
“Krishi Mitra uses advanced voice-to-text and natural language processing and ITCMAARS agri databases to interact with farmers, offering real-time, personalised guidance directly through a smartphone,” S Ganesh Kumar, divisional chief executive, Agri Business, ITC, told FE. Farmers can ask questions in their local language, and the chatbot responds with clear, actionable insights, tailored to the user’s location and crop type, he added.
Technically speaking, Krishi Mitra is built on a large language model (LLM) foundation and functions as a GenAI copilot, delivering context-aware responses that enhance decision-making and boost productivity. For detailed conversations and technical advisory, farmers are directed to an ITCMAARS agri expert.
ITCMAARS (Metamarket for Advanced Agriculture and Rural Services) is one of India’s fastest growing agritech-enabled integrated ecosystem. It was launched in 2022 and represents a significant milestone in ITC’s longstanding and deep-rooted association with agriculture. Basically, it is a “phygital” (physical and digital) ecosystem intended to empower farmers with a range of services like crop advisory, market access, financial services, and climate change guidance.
Take for instance, the Crop Calendar; this is an AI powered nudge engine helping farmers to scientifically plan crop cycles. There’s also Crop Doctor, an AI-enabled image analytics tool for real-time and accurate crop-disease diagnosis. As per a pilot study for ITCMAARS, over 10,000 plus soil tests, with personalised crop nutrition recommendations based on AI-based algorithms, have been facilitated, resulting in a 10-15% reduction in fertiliser usage and a 15-20% improvement in crop yields.
ITCMAARS has, so far, been introduced in 11 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, among others. It has empowered over 20 lakh farmers through more than 2,000 farmer producer organisations (FPOs), including 12 all-women FPOs. “ITCMAARS will cover 10 million farmers and support 4,000 FPOs by 2030. The platform aims to empower famers through a rich repertoire of advanced tech-led farm services and on-ground engagements,” said Kumar.
ITCMAARS encompasses physical engagement on the ground with FPOs as the pivot, while bringing the power of digital technologies to small and marginal farmers in the form of a super app. This app acts as a single point resource for farmers, providing end-to-end personalised agricultural services through a plug-and-play model. It offers digital access to formal agri-credit, through partner banks. The platform provides AI/ML enabled hyperlocal solutions to facilitate wider agri-tech adoption by means of tech-based crop advisories, an e-marketplace for selling farm outputs and an e-platform for agri inputs.
Interestingly, ITC’s agritech initiative supports rural agri-entrepreneurship through ground-level engagement with FPOs, which provide physical staging point for inputs and outputs supply chains in villages. The model, built on the foundation of ITC e-Choupal, harnesses the strong physical connect that ITC has established through decades of deep engagement with Indian farmers.
The platform offers demand-driven output linkages, including farm-gate pickup of farmer produce and ensuring transparent and fair quality assessment. It has provided farmers access to global markets by connecting them to the 2000+ strong ITC global customer base. A 30 to 40% increase in net returns on farm income has been achieved, according to a pilot assessment.
“At the same time, the model strengthens the competitiveness of ITC’s agri and foods businesses by ensuring traceable, high-quality agri sourcing,” said Kumar.