Microsoft UAE is showcasing how it supports sustainable farming with AI and IoT at 40th GITEX Technology Week in Dubai.
Using AI, Edge and IoT, Microsoft’s agricultural solution FarmBeats built on Azure enables data-driven farming to maximize agricultural output.
This data-driven farming entails using data visualizations, analytics and machine learning. The results; it creates automated recommendations on water usage and soil quality. That the company notes help during challenging conditions.
This is part of Microsoft’s AI for good global initiative to support sustainable farming practices and contribute to food security.
Located at H6-D20, Hall 6, a Microsoft Hub has been set up to offer attendees an opportunity to discover and experience Microsoft technology and innovations.
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Sayed Hashish, GM Microsoft UAE showing Microsoft technology innovations at the Microsoft Hub at GITEX Technology Week 2020.
Microsoft notes that governments are now reimagining a more positive world. As such the company is investing alongside them into critical technological infrastructure to solve pressing challenges.
Speaking to the media, Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE notes there will be a need to feed nine to ten billion people by 2050. “This will require a significant increase in food production. However, there is a limited amount of additional arable land, and water levels have also been receding. Cloud technology may prove crucial to address this agricultural challenge,” he continues.
Let’s think differently and use IoT to solve local problems says Jack Ngaare, MD of Microsoft Africa Development Center, Kenya site. He was sharing insights on Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Internet of Things(IoT) during keynote address at the third East Africa IoT and AI Summit.
Speaking to delegates at the conference he emphasized the need to focus on the problems Africa has and be more deliberate about solving these problems using such emerging technologies.
Let’s think differently and use IoT to solve local[Africa] problems
He asked “What problems do we have? What are the focus areas and what are the simple solutions?
40% of farm produce in Kenya goes to waste, talking about use cases of IoT in the East Africa region. IoT can help solve some of agriculture’s most vexing challenges. By helping farmers connect fields and herds, reduce risks, streamline operations as well as increase yield. IoT technology and data driven agriculture Jack says is one answer to solving the agriculture challenge.
Microsoft research scientists are testing Farmbeats; a data driven solution which help farmers improve their yields and lower costs in Kenya. Microsoft plans to later scale Farmbeats across Africa.
An area of focus in Microsoft’s research is Agriculture. Microsoft research scientists are focusing on unleashing the future of agriculture using data driven techniques called precision farming. The process involves using broadband connectivity through TV whitespaces, connected to IoT sensors that enable data driven farming. These data when collected over time will help farmers improve their yields and lower costs. This initiative from Microsoft is called FarmBeats.
Piloting FarmBeats in Africa
Microsoft is expanding the pilot program of FarmBeats to Africa, starting in Kenya. The program in Nairobi will be focused on addressing the specific challenges of farming in Africa with the intent of expanding to other African countries.
Data-driven digital agriculture
FarmBeats
“AI doesn’t replace human knowledge; it augments it“
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO says “AI doesn’t replace human knowledge, it augments it. Talking about Microsoft FarmBeats initiative he shares that “Data from low-cost sensors in soil and drones with machine learning algorithms work with farmers’ knowledge and intuition to help them gather and parse data about their farms. Informing what, when, and where to plant in order to drive the highest-possible yields and reduce costs”.
Microsoft FarmBeats will help farmers benefit from technology innovation at the edge. Microsoft says although technology could help the farmer, its adoption is limited. This is majorly due to farms not having power, Internet connectivity on the farms and farmers not technology savvy.
To address this Microsoft says “We are working towards an end-to-end approach. From sensors to the cloud, to solve the problem. As part of the FarmBeats project, we are building several unique solutions to solve these problems using low-cost sensors, drones and vision and machine learning algorithms“.
Bill Gates visited a pilot site and shares his experience in the video below.
If you are a student, there is a Student Kit that will help you learn about precision agriculture.
Now on Azure Marketplace
Microsoft releases FarmBeats on the Azure Marketplace to help farmers with low-cost agtech solutions. Azure FarmBeats in the Azure marketplace will be a business-to-business offering. Offered at no additional charge and users will only pay for the Azure resources used. It will include a Datahub. (An API layer that enables aggregation, normalization, and contextualization of various agriculture datasets across providers). As well as an Accelerator. (A sample solution, built on top of Datahub, that jumpstarts your UI and model development).
