IIT Ropar’s ANNAM.AI, the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for AI in Agriculture, National Informatics Centre (NIC) Punjab, and Punjab State Farmers’ & Farm Workers’ Commission (PSFC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work jointly on making agriculture-based information and advisory more accessible to the farmers of Punjab.
The MoU was signed by Dr Pushpendra P. Singh, Project Director, ANNAM.AI; Dr Sukhpal Singh, Chairman, PSFC; and Vivek Verma, State Informatics Officer (SIO) and Deputy Director General, NIC, Punjab. The MoU signing and interaction were attended by Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, Co-Project Director of ANNAM.AI, while Dr Mukesh Saini, Co-Project Director of ANNAM.AI, took part in the felicitation ceremony.
Each partner brings an important expertise to the collaboration, with ANNAM.AI contributing through its AI-driven agricultural technologies, NIC Punjab offering digital platforms and technical expertise of AI in governance, and PSFC bringing in its agriculture sector knowledge and a deep understanding of farmers’ requirements. Together, the partners aim to help Punjab’s farmers obtain reliable answers to their agricultural queries through service channels that already exist, making advisory support easier to reach and use.
A key area of the collaboration is ANNAM.AI’s ANNAM Chat Engine (ACE), an AI-powered Advisory Data Engine led by Dr Sudarshan Iyengar. Designed to address farmers’ agricultural queries, ACE draws on an agriculture-specific knowledge base to provide responses in multiple languages, with expert-validated information that is authentic and reliable. Under the MoU, the partners will integrate ANNAM.AI’S ACE and the Kisan Call Centre (KCC) solution with NIC and PSFC’s joint initiative of Agri-exclusive data and Web Portal. This could include voice-enabled interfaces, chatbots and mobile applications, making it easier for farmers to access relevant agricultural information and advisory services.
The collaboration also extends to ANNAM.AI’s AI-based crop-health solutions, which help identify pests and diseases, and its IoT-enabled weather monitoring systems, which track local weather conditions. Together, these could give farmers better insight for day-to-day agricultural decisions.
The partners will coordinate on technical requirements and potential applications, keeping farmers’ needs and Punjab’s agricultural ecosystem at the centre.
Speaking on the collaboration, Dr Pushpendra P Singh, Project Director, ANNAM.AI said, “Through this collaboration, we aim to bring together ANNAM.AI’s expertise in agricultural AI with the institutional capabilities of NIC Punjab and the agricultural insights of PSFC to address the advisory needs of farmers. By combining our respective strengths, we aim to advance practical, technology-led solutions that can strengthen agricultural advisory services and support farmers in making informed decisions for better productivity and yield.”