Industrial Vision Systems, a Pakistani Agritech Firm, plans on selling its Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for scanning and grading fruits and vegetables to farmers in Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
This Pakistani agritech startup has developed a portable machine that uses AI to grade fruits, vegetables and dates. First it scans them through a camera which is connected to a computer, and then grades them by identifying their defects and creating a complete dataset on the basis of their quality.
Agriculture is the largest sector in Pakistan and it contributes over 25 percent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The agriculture sector also employs more than 35 percent of the country's labor force.
This machine hopes to benefit both farmers and the agriculture industry in Pakistan by enhancing export earnings and modernizing agricultural practices in the country. Being developed in Pakistan, this AI machine is also a cost effective solution to Pakistani farmers' many needs.
CEO and Co-founder of Industrial Vision Systems, Saad Tanveer Ahmed, says that the firm is engaging with farmers in several Middle Eastern countries with hopes to sell the technology there. This AI machine will help date farmers in the Middle East by allowing them to grade their dates without human shortcomings and high labor costs.
He explains that “the better the quality of your produce, the better the report you get from the machine, allowing farmers to get fair compensation for the hard work they have put in."
According to Waheed Ahmed, the Patron-in-Chief of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetables Exporters Association, the demand for the advanced technology is also very high in the agricultural industry, but unfortunately Pakistan lags behind the developed world.
In light of this AI machine's various benefits for the agriculture sector, Waheed Ahmed urges the government to support similar local agri-tech initiatives instead of obsolete technologies.
Industrial Vision Systems has already received several letters of intent from the fruit industry and it aims to roll out its first commercial version in March 2021.