Precision aquaculture technologies has started gaining traction with more Indian entrepreneurs venturing into the aquaculture ecosystem.
“We witness a rising adoption of advanced technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence, and satellite remote sensing for monitoring and prediction of farm activities. There is a rise in the popularity of land-based recirculating aquaculture systems that can help farmers growing fishes in the indoor farms. The growing interest among investors is also promoting the growth of R&D expenditure in aquaculture technology worldwide,” said Rajamanohar Somasundaram, CEO, Aquaconnect.
According to him, the precision aquaculture technology market is estimated to be worth about $400 million in 2019 and is expected to reach $764 million by 2024 at a CAGR of 14 per cent.
Technology use
Somasundaram is currently using AI technologies to assist shrimp and fish farmers to predict diseases in advance, and improve efficiency and revenue. “In India, one out of four farmers is losing the crop to disease outbreak. Our venture Aquaconnect drives precision aquaculture technology adoption to improve production and risk management due to diseases,” he said.
Shrimp and fish farming is one of the biggest livelihood activity in the coastal regions of India, which exports $5-billion-worth farmed shrimp and fish every year.
Though it is a multi-billion-dollar industry, the sector uses little or no technology to improve productivity and prevent loses due to diseases.
To predict disease outbreak and minimise the losses, Aquaconnect has created FarmMOJO, an AI enabled farm advisor tool. The mobile app interface advises farmers on water quality, feed usage and the overall health indicators of the ponds.