NIC, spice board team up for AI-aided study on cardamom diseases in Sikkim

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Spices Board have signed an MoU for a project focused on using artificial intelligence tools to detect and classify large cardamom diseases.

NIC, through its Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CoE-AI) in Kolkata, has developed a proof of concept for detecting diseases in cardamom leaves using AI-based models, a press release said. The initiative aims to integrate AI solutions with e-governance applications to enhance efficiency and productivity in the agricultural sector.

According to the MoU, the Spices Board will provide images of both healthy and diseased large cardamom leaves to NIC. The images will be processed at NIC’s AI lab in Kolkata to train AI tools to accurately identify diseased cardamom leaves.

The MoU was signed by Sanhita Bhattacharjee, Scientist and Additional State Informatics Officer, West Bengal, and AB Rema Shree, Director (Research & Finance), Spices Board.

The signing ceremony was attended by LP Sharma, State Informatics Officer (Sikkim), and his team from NIC Sikkim, along with other officials from the Spices Board, Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI), and NIC, who participated virtually. The collaboration was initiated under the guidance of Shermishta Sengupta, Deputy Director General of NIC.

NIC Sikkim, the Spices Board, and NIC Kolkata have been in discussions for the past three months to finalise the MoU to leverage AI technology to improve large cardamom farming in Sikkim.