Bhubaneswar, March 12: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform modern agriculture, but its success depends strongly on robust data foundations, experts said at a two-day international symposium organised at the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here, which concluded on Wednesday.

Various data sources are required for AI-driven agricultural systems, such as weather and climate records, remote sensing data, soil properties, farm observations and sensor-based monitoring systems, they said.

The symposium on ‘Artificial Intelligence in Shaping Agriculture and Allied Sectors for Sustainable Food Security’ was jointly organized by SOA’s Centre for Climate Smart Agriculture (CCSA), SOA’s faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the AIC-SOA Foundation.

The event, which was attended by 150 participants including from IIT Bhubaneswar, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, Bhubaneswar, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack and Indian Horticultural Research Institute, Bengaluru, focused on AI-driven innovations such as precision farming, crop and soil health monitoring, pest and disease forecasting, smart irrigation, yield prediction and digital advisory services.

Prof. Chittaranjan Ray, Director of the Nebraska Water Center, USA, Mr. Robert B. Daugherty of Water for Food Global Institute, University of Nebraska, Prof. Binayak P. Mohanty, Regents Professor and COALS Chair, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, Texas A and M University, USA and Dr. Jude Cobbing, Senior Program Manager, University of Nebraska were among the distinguished resource persons at the symposium.

Prof. Ray discussed the inter-linkage between water resources, food security and emerging global challenges, particularly in the face of rapid population growth and shifting food demand. He pointed out that Africa’s demographic contribution to the global population was expected to rise significantly, influencing future food systems, dietary patterns, and regional crop production strategies.

“The deliberations by the acclaimed international and Indian experts will certainly improve the current level of understanding on smart farming for efficient use of critical resources such as water, nutrients and energy through real-time data-driven decision support systems particularly under the climate variability scenario,” Prof. Rabindra Kumar Panda, Director of CCSA, said.

This would be of enormous value, particularly for the farmers of Odisha who have little access to the modern technological interventions to enhance productivity and production, he said.

Prof. Mohanty, who spoke on the subject ‘Climate Smart Decision Making in Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities using AI’, discussed the growing challenges posed by climate variability and extreme weather events which significantly affected crop productivity and water resources. He highlighted how AI and data-driven approaches could integrate information from climate data, soil moisture, crop growth models and remote sensing observations to support climate-smart agricultural decision making.

Dr. Cobbing, who focused on demography, agricultural challenges and water scarcity in Africa, India and the USA, said South Asia had one of the largest irrigated agricultural areas, playing a crucial role in regional food security. He compared AI-enabled development and energy status across the three continents emphasizing the differences in technological and infrastructural capacity.

He said it was time to move beyond colonial stereotypes to address agricultural and water challenges through reconciliation, knowledge sharing and responsible AI use.

Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, who presided over the inaugural session on Tuesday, described the organization of the symposium on use of AI for the benefit of farmers as timely and contemporary under the present context. He said that AI-driven decision support system could be successfully used to address issues faced by the farmers.

The other speakers included Dr. Alakananda Mitra, Research Assistant Professor, Nebraska Water Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, Dr. S.K.Routray, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IIWM, Bhubaneswar and Prof. Basudev Behera, Professor and Head of Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, SOA.

The key organizers of the symposium, besides Prof. Panda, included Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Co-Chairman, and Dr. Anshuman Jena and Dr. Subhaprada Dash, both Associate Professors of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences who were the Convenors of the event.