Artificial intelligence in agricultural value chain : review and future directions

Purpose: This paper is a literature review on use of artificial intelligence (AI) among agricultural value chain (AVC) actors, and it brings out gaps in research in this area and provides directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach: The authors systematically collected literature from several databases covering 25 years (1994–2020). They classified literature based on AVC actors present in different stages of AVC. The literature was analysed using Nvivo 12 (qualitative software) for descriptive and content analysis. Findings: Fifty percent of the reviewed studies were empirical, and 35% were conceptual. The review showed that AI adoption in AVC could increase agriculture income, enhance competitiveness and reduce cost. Among the AVC stages, AI research related to agricultural processing and consumer sector was very low compared to input, production and quality testing. Most AVC actors widely used deep learning algorithm of artificial neural networks in various aspects such as water resource management, yield prediction, price/demand forecasting, energy efficiency, optimalization of fertilizer/pesticide usage, crop planning, personalized advisement and predicting consumer behaviour. Research limitations/implications: The authors have considered only AI in the AVC, AI use in any other sector and not related to value chain actors were not included in the study. Originality/value: Earlier studies focussed on AI use in specific areas and actors in the AVC such as inputs, farming, processing, distribution and so on. There were no studies focussed on the entire AVC and the use of AI. This review has filled that literature gap.