Google will soon launch Agriculture Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API (Android Programming Interface), a limited availability tool designed to make agricultural practices more data-driven and efficient.
This was announced by Jeanine Banks, Vice President and General Manager, Developer X of Google at the second edition of Google I/O Connect developers conclave held in Bengaluru on July 17.
The ALU Research API aims to address the challenges faced by farmers, such as improving crop yields, accessing capital and providing market access to farm products. It will provide granular insight at the individual farm field level by leveraging satellite imagery and machine learning. This level of detail is crucial, as even nearby fields can have different requirements due to the diversity of India’s agriculture landscape. By drawing precise field boundaries, the tool can help resolve issues related to drought preparedness, irrigation and market access. It can provide data for crop type, field size, distance to water sources, roads and markets.
Google is collaborating with Indian startups, research institutions and the government to explore the use of ALU Research API. ALU information is already being explored by the partners like Ninjacart, Skymet, Team-Up, IIT Bombay and the Government of India.
Google also announced partnership with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Startup Hub to support 10,000 Indian startups in their journey of artificial intelligence.
