Turning Pakistan Agriculture Around With the Power of AI

By The Express Tribune

Agriculture may form the backbone of Pakistan’s economy but outdated practices have long kept the sector from tapping into its full potential, writes Nabil Tahir at The Express Tribune. The net result of these old habits, especially towards irrigation and resource management, has been a gradual but ever-worsening downward trend in production. Although not the sole cause by any means, it had a part to play in the present food crisis that some experts fear could become a perennial issue in the future.

So had been the case at least until a young entrepreneur came to fore with a novel solution. For Ramla Kaleem and team, a possible answer lay in leveraging the latest information technology tools for agriculture. That is how AquaAgro, an Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) based cloud platform that can help save water and increase agricultural production, came into being.

“Agriculture used to contribute approximately 50% to the country’s GDP. Now it makes up less than 20%,” said Kaleem, who now serves as Aqua Agro’s CEO. “Meanwhile, our freshwater resources are drying up quickly. With limited storage facilities, there is a dire need to save as much freshwater as possible,” she added.

Continue reading at The Express Tribune.