[Financial News] The Rural Development Administration, in collaboration with Naver Cloud, has developed an agricultural artificial intelligence (AI) service designed to assist new farmers and rural settlers. This AI-powered app, called the “Latest Agricultural Technology Informant,” answers farming-related questions posed by users. Starting in November, the app will have a voice interaction feature, allowing users to ask questions and receive answers through voice commands.
On the 24th, the Rural Development Administration announced that it has developed the “Latest Agricultural Technology Informant” app by combining extensive digital agricultural data with Naver Cloud’s AI and cloud technology expertise. To ensure the accuracy of the responses, the app was tested through a pilot program where it learned from various data sources and underwent expert verification before being launched. The AI has been trained on over 6,307 agricultural technical books, weekly farming information, crop pest occurrence data, variety information, and more than 50,000 pieces of data from the agricultural technology portal “Nongsa-ro.”
The newly introduced agricultural AI agent provided through the app includes services such as △an agriculture information chatbot (agricultural encyclopedia), △customized education recommendations (agricultural education), and △step-by-step farming design for new settlers (farming planning). An official from the Rural Development Administration said, “AI technologies often face risks of information distortion. However, our app increases accuracy and reliability by learning from extensive agricultural data from expert sources like the farming technology portal ‘Nongsa-ro’ and farming manuals published by the Rural Development Administration.”
Starting in November, the app will offer voice query and response functions and the use of document and image-based answers. By early next year, it plans to implement pest image identification features and incorporate consumption and distribution data to provide optimal management solutions based on farm size through the farming design service. The app will also expand its learning capacity to include specialized data from information systems operated by the Rural Development Administration on topics such as climate disasters, pest prediction and diagnosis, soil, varieties, food, and pesticides, enhancing it into a comprehensive agricultural AI agent.
Lee Sang-ho, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Rural Development Administration, stated, “The agricultural specialized AI agent developed in cooperation with Naver Cloud is the starting point of AI transition in the agricultural field. We will expand its functions to enhance efficiency and sustainability in the agricultural field and contribute to the realization of AI in agriculture through data-driven farming.”
Meanwhile, in 2023, there are 1,307 households that newly settled in rural areas. The average age of these settlers is decreasing (from 56.4 to 56.3 years). The proportion of individuals under the age of 40 has increased (from 21.9% to 22.5%). According to the 2023 study on the real condition of rural settlers, the biggest challenge faced by these households is income, followed by farming (19.4%). The most challenging aspect of farming is reported to be the lack of agricultural technology and experience (46.4%).