Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org has granted $3.3 million to Wadhwani AI’s CottonAce app for developing and deploying AI to help farmers across India, the firm said on October 31. “Wadhwani AI is receiving a new $3.3 million grant from Google.org under the AI for Global Goals call as it expands and integrates the image-classifying AI technology underlying CottonAce into the digital systems of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India to cover India’s staple food crops,” the company wrote in a blog post. Wadhwani AI developed the CottonAce app, which is available in nine Indian languages, and provides farmers with real-time advice on crop resilience and pest management, including judicious and appropriate fertilizer and pesticide use. The company added that by leveraging Natural Language Processing techniques, the system will provide management advisories for pests and diseases nationwide.