The project focuses on the use of AI-powered satellite advisories in agriculture in India to provide farmers with location-specific insights into crop health and irrigation needs in real time. The research project is titled Signals from Space, Decisions on Farms: Digital Leapfrogging for Agriculture, led by Soniya as Principal Investigator.
The research paper on the project is being co-authored by Soniya, a PhD candidate in Quantitative Marketing, along with Paul Kattuman, Professor of Economics at Cambridge Judge, Luisa Corrado, Visiting Research Fellow (Economics and Policy) at Cambridge Judge, and Jaideep Prabhu, Professor of Marketing at the Business School.
Project compares data provided by WhatsApp and through an AI-enabled portal
The research project partners with Farmonaut, an Indian agritech firm that delivers a remote sensing device. The study compares advice provided via WhatsApp and that provided through an AI-enabled web portal called JEEVN AI, using a sample of more than 4,000 farms in India.
“The study addresses a pressing problem in agri-business across emerging markets, including India and Sub-Saharan Africa – limited access to timely, actionable data coupled with resistance towards technological adoption,” Soniya says in a summary of the project. “It aims to generate impactful evidence on the effectiveness of satellite-based advice delivered through digital means.
“The researchers are evaluating the responsiveness of farmers to different delivery methods and the subsequent impact on crop productivity and sustainability,” says the summary.
Grant programme focuses on private development in low-income countries
A key goal of this ERG programme is to encourage young scholars to conduct research on private enterprise development in low-income countries, and to date, the programme has funded more than 320 projects, many of which involve PhD students.
“The PEDL programme pursues a research agenda that aims to better understand what determines the strength of market forces driving efficiency in low-income countries,” says PEDL. “Existing research suggests that the private sector in low-income countries faces a multitude of constraints that act upon each other. What is needed is research that allows us to understand how these constraints interact.”
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