Telangana govt, WEF unveil Saagu Baagu phase-I report
The State government plans to scale agritech services to 20,000 chilli & groundnut farmers in 3 districts during phase-II, and aims to reach 1 lakh farmers in the State by the end of phase-III
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Hyderabad: Government of Telangana and World Economic Forum (WEF) launched ‘Saagu Baagu’ project phase-I Insights report here on Thursday. The launch was presided over by KT Rama Rao, Minister for ITE&C Government of Telangana; Palanivel Thiagarajan, Minister for ITE&C, Government of Tamil Nadu; Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary ITE&C Department of Telangana; and other dignitaries of the WEF.
The project was initiated in 2022 and is being implemented by Digital Green (in consortium with three agritech startups) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Currently, more than 7,000 chilli farmers in Khammam district in Telangana have accessed four agritech services, including AI-based advisories, soil testing, produce quality testing and e-commerce – all in the project’s pilot phase.
"I am glad to announce the release of the Saagu Baagu phase-I report, highlighting our groundbreaking collaboration with the WEF. Through the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI), we aim to empower farmers with data-driven crop advisories and market intelligence, ultimately striving to foster agricultural prosperity within our State," said KTR.
“The State government plans to scale existing and additional agritech services in phase-II (from 2023 onwards) to 20,000 chilli and ground nut farmers in three districts. The digital public infrastructure will also be introduced in phase-II; in phase-III (by 2025), the target is to reach 1 lakh farmers in the State,” he added.
According to partner Digital Green, the initial trends indicate that farmers are getting higher prices for their products compared to traditional methods. The initiative’s project report serves as a playbook for governments to enable their local agritech ecosystem and uplift smallholder farmers.
As the urgency of the climate crisis becomes more evident and conflicts and natural calamities continue to devastate communities, threatening global food security, industry is under mounting pressure to embrace sustainable practices and revamp its portfolios. Consequently, agriculture has evolved into a dynamic arena with investment opportunities and innovative solutions, making it an attractive domain for tech-savvy and entrepreneurial minds.
The AI for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) initiative conceptualised in partnership with WEF aims to transform the agriculture sector in India by promoting the use of AI and emerging technologies. While these technologies have the potential to significantly contribute to improving productivity and sustainability, they are often marked by fragmented technological infrastructure, high costs of operations, lack of access to data and limited technical expertise, while hamper the scale of their impact.
The AI4AI addresses these challenges to scale emerging technologies and it lies at the heart of the “Saagu Baagu” project. Implemented by Government of Telangana, the project is an example of agriculture value chain transformation by focusing on easing agritech services delivery to the end customer through administrative and policy support and through digital public infrastructure, including its “Agriculture Data Exchange” and “Agritech Sandbox”.
“Telangana’s experience highlights the need for governments to play an enabling role and consider non-financial yet high-impact areas to help scale agri-tech services. A focus on value chains is also needed to ensure efforts are focused, organised and outcome-oriented,” said Purushottam Kaushik, Head of the WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in India.
