The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) plans to start its full-scale studies on how to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture.
With the fiscal 2016 supplementary budget, MAFF has launched a study program that teaches AI to remember agricultural techniques of skillful farmers to be followed by agricultural newcomers.
In fiscal 2017, MAFF aims at developing an AI technique not only for reducing crop damages caused by insects and diseases, but also for proper farm management. A study on how to improve the accuracy of harvesting robots will also start.
These studies of AI application are to be implemented in MAFF’s fiscal 2017 scheme named a “future agriculture creation project with artificial intelligence.” It is the first time for MAFF to name its project with a word of artificial intelligence or AI.
Crop damages caused by pests and diseases will be diagnosed with AI. It will also be possible to find out what kind of insect or disease is damaging the crop with an AI technique of image recognition.
AI will be able to increasingly improve its accuracy of diagnosis if it remembers more data and experiences.
MAFF wishes to develop an AI technique that enables farmers to find out crop damage by insects or diseases as early as possible even though they are poor at diagnosing such damages.