The Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) on Tuesday announced the launching of national AI-ML network programme in partnership with Agriculture Development Trust (ADT) of Baramati, Maharashtra. The initiative leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly enhance sugarcane productivity, quality, sustainability, and farmers’ income, ISMA said.
Higher yields and better resource use will not only improve sugar recovery but also directly boost farm profitability, ISMA said in a statement. It also said that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ADT and also with Pune-based agri-tech service provider Map My Crop (MMC).
ADT had collaborated with University of Oxford and Microsoft for a project titled “Application of AI, computer vision and machine learning for Game-Changing Improvements in Sugarcane Crop Farming Practices” in 2024, through which over 1,000 farmers were empowered with AI-driven solutions, including machine learning and computer vision tools, to enhance their sugarcane farming practices, ISMA said.
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It claimed that the initiative had helped increase in crop yield by 40 per cent, reduced labor costs by 35 per cent, saved water usage by 30 per cent, and 35 per cent improvement seen in harvesting efficiency. There was significant reduction in input costs and overall expenditure as seen from the ADT’s project, ISMA said adding there was reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions too through precision farming.
“This new digital initiative builds on that foundation of recognising the urgent need to increase average cane productivity to over 100 tonnes per hectare and sugar recovery to 11 per cent or more,” ISMA said, recalling its earlier partnership with ICAR’s Sugarcane Research Institutes to promote high-yielding varieties.
Deepak Ballani, Director General of ISMA, said: “This technology-backed network will help farmers take better decisions, use fewer resources, and get better returns per acre.” Field demonstrations and capacity-building sessions have been planned to promote rapid adoption.
Published on August 5, 2025
