AI, IoT to Boost Farm Sector: Minister Sridhar Babu
Our government is committed to reducing cultivation costs and chemical inputs, he said
Hyderabad: Telangana is set to take a leading role in digital agriculture by using advanced technologies to support small and marginal farmers, said IT and industries minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu on Tuesday. After a meeting with representatives of Germany’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) at the Secretariat, Sridhar Babu said the government aims to make farming more profitable, sustainable and climate-resilient through Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics.
“Our government is committed to reducing cultivation costs and chemical inputs,” he said. “By enabling small and marginal farmers to adopt innovative technologies, we aim to improve productivity, ease financial pressures, and protect the environment.” Agriculture supports over 55 per cent of Telangana’s population and remains central to its economy. The minister said Telangana’s strength as both a technology hub and an agrarian state gives it a unique advantage to lead India’s digital farming efforts.
Pilot projects using AI-based early warning systems, soil sensors and analytics are already helping farmers reduce pesticide use and production costs, he noted. Sridhar Babu reviewed progress on the “Accelerating Climate-Resilient Agriculture in Telangana” project, active for two years in villages near Vemulawada under Fraunhofer HHI’s guidance, and urged its expansion across the State.
The meeting was attended by M. Kodanda Reddy, chairman of the Telangana State Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Commission, Anvesh Reddy, chairman of the Telangana State Seeds Corporation, Volker Kleima from the German Embassy’s Food and Agriculture Division and Fraunhofer HHI experts Dr Sebastian Bosse and Dr Raghu Chaliganti.
