Artificial intelligence will check paddy quality at West Bengal's government procurement centres. Under the state food department's plan, 100 AI-based automatic grain analysers will be installed at first, on a trial basis in 10 districts including Nadia, and the technology is to be extended to other procurement centres in stages.
The problem it targets is an old one. Farmers complain that even good paddy is turned away on grounds of moisture or broken and shrivelled grains, and quality is a constant source of dispute between farmers and rice mills. Under the new system the machine's report, rather than an individual's judgement, will carry the weight.
The device is called an automatic food grain analyser. A sample of the farmer's paddy is placed in it and scanned automatically, and a detailed quality report is ready in just three minutes. It identifies moisture content, the number of shrivelled and broken grains, insect-damaged grains, sprouted grains, grains of other crops, and stones or dust, and can pick out grains even when they lie on top of one another. If a sample fails the standard, the digital report gives the reason.
The preliminary plan announced six machines each for Nadia, Birbhum, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman, eight for Purba Medinipur, and seven each for Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and South 24 Parganas.
State food minister Ashok Kirtania said that under the previous government farmers were harassed at the mandis over the weight and quality of their paddy, and that the AI machines were being installed to end that. Manoj Fogla, secretary of the West Bengal Rice Mill Association, said millers had long asked for such machines, adding that the technology is already used in states such as Odisha.
The administration expects the machine reports to cut needless disputes between farmers and procurement staff over quality, and complaints of harassment over good paddy.
Reported by Tiyasha Sarkar for Sangbad Pratidin.
Photo: ROCKY / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Sangbad Pratidin
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