Davos/New Delhi:
One of the big themes at the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the last couple of years has been artificial intelligence (AI), and the future of food and agriculture is something that’s absolutely critical. Nadir Godrej, Chairperson of Godrej Agrovet, in an interview to NDTV at Davos said artificial intelligence has a big role to play in the food sector, and Godrej Agrovet is using AI in several areas.
“We have a crop-protection business where we produce chemicals that help to protect crops. We use photographs to find crop diseases. AI studies the photographs of the crops and determines what kind of disease it is, and that is very useful,” Mr Godrej said.
He gave an example of how large oil palm plantations owned by smallholders, who don’t have the wherewithal to manage the plantations, benefit from the use of IA.
“In our oil palm business, we take satellite photographs of all our oil palm plantations which are owned by smallholders… Once we see the photographs, we can give them (smallholders) advice, we can tell them what kind of fertilizer to use, we also do soil testing, all that gets analysed, and wherever possible, we use artificial intelligence and give them the right advice to improve their yields and the quality of the oil they produce,” the chairman of the diversified agri-business major told NDTV.
He said AI helps reduce inputs such as fertilizers and costs. But how exactly?
“Once you know the exact conditions of the crop, you don’t overuse fertilisers, and overusing fertilisers causes pollution and damages the soil, but if you use the right amount, it’s very good,” Mr Godrej said, adding they collaborate with AI firms around the world, though Godrej Agrovet also has a lot of AI professionals on its rolls.
Other areas where the company uses AI are in its food businesses.
“… To manage stores, we see what is the shelf space-share we have by taking photographs of the stores, which all get analysed by artificial intelligence, so it makes all our sales staff very productive,” Mr Godrej said.
On Trump Presidency And Tariffs
Mr Godrej agreed that the issue of tariffs is critical, and obviously critical to agriculture as well. With Donald Trump 2.0 here and speculation of tariff wars in the near future, Mr Godrej said it is going to be a challenge for the Indian firm.
“… On some items we have high tariffs. It would be good for us to proactively reduce some of those tariffs; we no longer need such high tariffs for protection of our industries, and already many people are manufacturing, the foreign companies who are importing those products are already manufacturing in India, so by reducing some of these tariffs, we can make sure that we are not hit by high tariffs,” Mr Godrej said, adding if China is hit by high tariffs, India is likely to benefit.
He said sustainability is an integral part of the processes not only in Godrej Agrovet, but in all Godrej businesses.
“In 2010, we launched our ‘good and green’ programme for environmental sustainability as well as social sustainability, and it was working out very well. Subsequently, we had compulsory CSR [corporate social responsibility] spends, and we used those to help society at large, as well as reach our sustainable goals,” Mr Godrej said.
The five-day meeting at Davos that began today is exploring how to relaunch growth, harness new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. The global meeting is seeing participation by nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries, including 350 governmental leaders.
India’s participation at Davos aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investment, and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India sent five Union ministers, three chief ministers, and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.
