IGF 2024 Lightning Talk #96 AI for Agriculture in Asia: Exploring Opportunities & Risks

This lightning talk will present how AI is being leveraged to meet targets under Sustainable Development Goal 2 on Zero Hunger in the Asian context, focusing on agricultural practices, and highlight key considerations that accompany the design and adoption of AI. Climate change is affecting Asia at an unprecedented scale - many of its coastal cities are sinking at a faster pace than other parts of the world. Southeast Asia witnessed a record-setting heatwave in the summer of 2024. The region is also prone to flooding, cyclones and extreme monsoon events. Climate risk poses an existential threat to the region, affecting livelihoods and food security. As countries devise their national adaptation plans and mitigation strategies, technology is emerging as a potential tool to address climate change issues. Particularly in agriculture, smart farming, robotics and technology-enabled precision agriculture are expected to improve crop yields, predict weather changes and manage farming practices. As national policies on AI focus on the potential of building climate-resilient agricultural practices, it is essential to contextualise deployment in the face of intra-regional disparities in access to data and digital infrastructure, maturity of AI ecosystems and socio-economic inequalities. This presentation will explore the pathways required to ensure that the development and adoption of AI for agricultural practices lead to equitable and inclusive outcomes for different stakeholders, such as smallholder farmers. It is related to the subtheme for IGF on ‘Enhancing the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability’. Emerging technologies like AI have the potential to address climate-resilient agriculture challenges for increasing food security and mitigating climate change through soil management. Considering disparities between and among countries in terms of the digital divide, economic inequalities and data availability, the design and development of AI solutions must be undertaken responsibly. The topic of AI and agriculture in the climate change context is part of a larger project that Digital Futures Lab (DFL) undertook in 2023, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation - https://digitalfutureslab.notion.site/AI-Climate-Action-in-Asia-030ee54…. The study explored the twinning of AI and climate action in three domains of agriculture, energy and disaster response. In terms of geography, the study focused on Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. To build a contextualised knowledge base for the study, DFL established an expert network representing civil society, academia, the private sector and technology and climate experts. The experts and other external stakeholders were widely consulted for the study.

How will you facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers? The Q&A session will be open to both online and offline participants, and the moderator will ensure that questions from online participants are accorded significant time for discussion. How will you design the session to ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants? The lightning talk will be supported by a deck designed in an accessible and easy-to-read manner. Please note any complementary online tools/platforms you plan to use to increase participation and interaction during the session. To increase interaction and participation from online and offline participants, we will use interactive online polls through platforms like Mentimeter.