NEC Laboratories India (NLI), an entity of NEC Corporation India, has signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), to create newer solutions to resolve agricultural issues using analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The signing of this MoU with TNAU marks NLI’s first partnership in the ‘agri-tech’ space in India, says a company release.

The MoU was signed virtually by Keiji Yamada, SVP & Head, NEC Laboratories India, and AS Krishnamoorthy, Acting Vice Chancellor & the Registrar, TNAU, Coimbatore, in the presence of KS Subramanian, Director of Research, and K Prabakar, Director (Centre for Plant Protection Studies).

Through this co-creation partnership, NEC aims to create solutions identifying major crop disease and deficiency categories, and provide appropriate remedies via Agri experts.

NLI will develop a mobile app with AI/Machine Learning capability, while TNAU to provide expert guidance and assist in data collection activity to detect diseases. By combining the best of both parties, early detection of disease onset through artificial intelligence can be achieved, and farmers will be able to take remedial actions promptly.

NEC aims to cover majorly impacted crops within India, with enhanced accuracy over the next 12 months, the release said.

The Indian agriculture industry faces various problems, resulting in severe crop losses of up to 30-60 per cent of the annual harvests. The primary reasons are diseases, resulting in loss of 15-25 per cent of potential output; soil nutrient deficiency - 36.5 per cent of soils today are deficient in most of the 21 required mineral nutrients - and insects and pests, reducing crop yield for five major food crops by 10 per cent to 40 per cent globally.

The on-site solution helps farmers to increase the yield and minimise crop loss by accurately recognizing crop diseases at an early stage; providing an efficient and immediate advisory system; and monitoring growth through a constant supply of information on what to do to maintain crop health through the various phases of growth, the release said.

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