New Delhi, 03 December, 2026: India’s Ministry of Agriculture conducted a pioneering AI pilot with Development Innovation Lab-India, delivering local monsoon onset forecasts to 3.88 crore farmers across 13 states via M-Kisan SMS in Hindi, Odia, Marathi, Bangla, and Punjabi. The open-source model blended Google’s NeuralGCM, ECMWF’s AIFS, and 125 years of IMD rainfall data, focusing on probabilistic predictions for sowing decisions without any financial aid.
Pilot Reach and Execution
Forecasts targeted agriculturally critical local monsoon starts, sent up to four weeks ahead to support Kharif 2025 planning. No costs were involved for farmers, emphasizing scalable public delivery through existing portals.
Farmer Impact Revealed
Telephonic surveys in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar showed 31-52% of farmers adjusted planting via land prep, sowing timing, crop, and input changes based on forecasts. This marks India’s first large-scale AI weather outreach, outperforming traditional models for monsoon prediction.
Official Confirmation
Minister of State Ramnath Thakur shared details in Lok Sabha, highlighting the scheme’s role in climate-adaptive farming. Posted by PIB Delhi on December 2, 2025
