Icrisat’s AI-powered kit to assess crop health instantaneously
Making crop testing simple, researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) have combined AI and pocket-size near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices.
This allows farmers to instantaneously evaluate the crop health by assessing nutrition levels right in their fields.
COST-EFFECTIVE
Usually, assessing the nutritional quality of grains and feedstock would take a number of weeks, involving manual or partially automated processes and laboratory instruments. In contrast, the hand-held NIRS devices are more cost-eective and can assess over 150 samples per day.
Icrisat Director-General Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes said the tool will act as a catalyst for production of nutrient-dense crops, both in breeding programmes and in farmers’ fields. “This technology is poised to expedite the breeding of nutrient-dense crops
An NIRS device checks chickpea quality
while facilitating their integration into the value chain. Our goal with this intervention is to provide quality assurance for the distribution of nutritionally fortified crops so that they reach those who need them most,” he said.
These non-destructive and robust grain quality measuring devices provide timely info on grain composition and can be used to promote quality-based payments in the market — benefiting food producers, grain processing industries, and farmers alike.
“We see the adoption of portable technology for assessing
grain quality as an important step in decentralising market systems, essential to promote the consumption of nutri-cereals,” said Sean Mayes, Global Research Director of the Accelerated Crop Improvement Program at Icrisat.