Telangana eyes leadership in digital agriculture

The Telangana government’s vision is to make agriculture more profitable, sustainable and climate-resilient through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced data-driven systems, Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu said here on Tuesday.

“Our government is working with a clear commitment to reduce cultivation costs and minimise the use of chemical inputs,” the Minister said after a meeting with representatives of Germany’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) who met him at the State Secretariat.

The goal is to help small and marginal farmers adopt technology that improves productivity, reduces financial burden and helps protect the environment, a release from the Minister’s office on his interaction said.

Seeking to highlight the importance of agriculture for Telangana, Mr. Sridhar Babu said the economy relies heavily on agriculture, with farming providing livelihoods to over 55% of the population and contributing significantly to the State’s Gross Domestic Product (GSDP). “At the same time, Telangana has become a global hub for emerging technologies. It is this unique combination that enables us to position the State as a model for digital agriculture,” he said.

Advanced soil sensors, early warning systems and AI-based analytics are some of the ongoing initiatives that can help farmers reduce pesticide usage, lower input costs and adopt sustainable farming practices. Telangana aims to emerge as a national leader in digital agriculture by integrating cutting-edge technologies with small and marginal farmers, the Minister said.

Mr. Sridhar Babu also reviewed the progress of the ‘Accelerating Climate-Resilient Agriculture in Telangana’ project, which is being implemented for the past two years in three villages near Vemulawada under the guidance of Fraunhofer HHI. He urged the German institute to expand the project across the State to reach more farmers, his office said.

Volker Kleima, Head of the Food and Agriculture Division at the Embassy of Germany in New Delhi, Fraunhofer HHI representatives Sebastian Bosse and Raghu Chaliganti participated in the meeting. Telangana State Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Commission Chairman M. Kodanda Reddy and Telangana State Seeds Corporation Chairman Anvesh Reddy were present.