Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) for undertaking a pilot study in 3 districts of Bhopal, Rajkot and Nanded in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively, with IBM India Private Limited, in New Delhi today.  IBM’s Watson Decision Platform will give solution in the field of agriculture through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and weather technology at village level/ farm level to provide weather forecast and soil moisture information on pro bono basis to help farmers for taking decisions regarding water and crop management for better production and productivity.

The SoI was signed in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Kailash Choudhary, and other senior officials of the Ministry.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Narendra Singh Tomar said ‘‘Our nation is foraying further into the digital age in the line of aspiration of Prime Minister of India towards achieving the goal of doubling the farmers’ income and it has been the Ministry’s assurance to bring digital technologies to help our farmers to increase their income and transform Indian agriculture’’. The Minister also added that enabling use of next-generation technologies such as AI and advanced weather data for better insights to make faster and more informed agricultural decisions is a testament to our commitment.

As part of the collaboration, IBM Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture will be leveraged to obtain farm level weather forecast and village level soil moisture in three districts in Central & Western India. This pilot study will be conducted for the Kharif crop season 2019.