Here's How An IIT-Kanpur Alumnus Is Using AI To Improve The Lives Of Shrimp And Fish Farmers

Technology is not something that one would immediately associate with farming. Even today the majority of the farmers are using the same age-old techniques and practices handed down to them over generations.

But over the years it has been established that better scientific farming methods and use of technology are beneficial for both farmers and the environment.

This is exactly what Rajamanohar Somasundaram has been doing for the past few years. Somasundaram an IIT-Kanpur alumnus and serial entrepreneur is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help aqua farmers to improve their products and thus lives.

After graduating from IIT-Kanpur in 2004, Somasundaram began his career with a top tech company and was working on internet banking which was still in its infancy. After some years, Somasundaram said he was bored and wanted to do something on his own.

That is how Hexolabs was born. It was still the days of multimedia phones and applications were few and far between. Hexolabs began creating Java-based mobile games for the likes of Nokia. The business later expanded to over 10 countries in Africa too.

In 2012 he was awarded the ¡°Young Global Leader in 2012¡± by World Economic Forum in recognition of the leadership and contribution in the technology innovation.

But latest venture, Somasundaram says began by chance.

"It was an accidental meeting while I was travelling to my hometown in Chidambaram. I met this man, Sanjay who is a farmer. As we were having a conversation Sanjay told me that he was a shrimp farmer. That was something totally new for me. I always thought that the shrimp came from the oceans. Later I realized that my hometown is one of the biggest shrimp producers in the country," Somasundaram told Indiatimes.

As he became interested in learning about shrimp farming Somasundaram began visiting farms he realized that despite how big the industry is, it was hardly using any technology or innovation.

"I realized that one can utilize technology and techniques like AI and machine learning can bring about huge changes in this sector. There are a lot of decisions that the farmers make without assessing the ground realities. Everything from water quality to the kind of feed that is fed to the baby shrimp is imported. That is how we came up with this 'advisor' which helps the farmers to apply the right techniques" he explained.

And that is how his second enterprise AquaConnect and ¡®FarmMOJO¡¯ was born.

FarmMOJO is an AI-based application which is aimed at increasing farm efficiency by predicting diseases based on the historical data. The simple mobile application interface bits of advice farmers based on the information such as water quality report, feed usage and health indicators of their pond. Thus the benefit of the high tech solution passed on to the farmers through mobile phones.

According to him, data intelligence improves the chances of farmers getting low-interest credits from banks and certification for exporting to the overseas market.

Even though now around 3000 aqua farmers are using the technology, Somasundaram said it wasn't easy to convince the farmers to switch to a simple mobile app.

"This is a really sophisticated technology but the interface is simple and the easily understandable for even a common farmer. Another thing we had in mind was the cost. We did not want it to be a burden on the farmers. Our mobile application is monthly-subscription based and it costs just Rs 500 per month for a farmer, which is an amount even a small scale farmer can afford," he said.

Currently, FarmMOJO is available only in English, but Somasundaram said soon it will be available in other languages including Tamil, Telugu, Odia, and Hindi.