IIT Ropar’s ANNAM.AI and Syngenta Partner to Accelerate AI-Powered Agriculture in India
Announced at Bharat Innovates 2026 in France, the collaboration aims to equip Indian farmers with data-driven decision-support tools that enhance productivity, resilience, and climate-smart farming practices.
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ANNAM.AI, the Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence for Agriculture at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, has entered into a strategic partnership with global agribusiness company Syngenta. The collaboration aims to develop advanced AI-driven solutions for crop health monitoring, pest forecasting, and heat-stress intelligence to support millions of Indian farmers.
The partnership was formalized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during Bharat Innovates 2026 in Nice, France. The event was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron and brought together innovators, researchers, and industry leaders from both countries.
Hosted at IIT Ropar under the Ministry of Education, ANNAM.AI is India’s first Centre of Excellence dedicated to Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture. Through this collaboration, ANNAM.AI and Syngenta will combine cutting-edge AI capabilities with deep agronomic expertise to develop next-generation decision-support systems for farmers. The solutions are expected to provide actionable insights on crop health, pest outbreaks, and heat-related risks, enabling farmers to make more informed and resilient agricultural decisions.
Speaking on the partnership, Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director of IIT Ropar, highlighted the role of industry-academia collaborations in driving innovation.
“Through the support of the Government of India and valuable guidance from our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, we are building an AI-driven intelligence ecosystem that bridges the gap between research and real-world implementation on farms. The collaboration between ANNAM.AI and Syngenta demonstrates the importance of industry-academia partnerships in promoting the adoption of next-generation agricultural technologies,” he said.
Dr Pushpendra Singh, Project Director of ANNAM.AI at IIT Ropar, said the partnership would strengthen efforts to deliver data-driven agricultural solutions across the country.
“This partnership with Syngenta combines science and technology with deep agronomic expertise to enable more data-driven and climate-smart farming across India. Our aim is to advance accurate crop health, pest forecasting, and heat-stress intelligence models that can empower farmers with timely and actionable insights,” he said.
The initiative is expected to contribute to a more resilient and sustainable agricultural ecosystem by leveraging advanced research, technical innovation, and practical farming knowledge.
Jeff Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Syngenta Group, emphasized the potential impact of the collaboration on Indian agriculture.
“At Syngenta, we are creating breakthroughs for farmers in every field to deliver higher yields with lower environmental impact. ANNAM.AI presents a unique opportunity to contribute to a transformative digital foundation for Indian agriculture that will benefit more than 600 million people in the country,” Rowe said.
At Bharat Innovates 2026, ANNAM.AI showcased its comprehensive AI ecosystem for agriculture, including hyperlocal weather systems capable of continuously monitoring environmental parameters with high precision, an AI-powered farmer advisory chatbot offering localized agricultural guidance and market insights, and a digital decision-support platform for crop identification, crop damage assessment, and pest management.
