Punjab Government to Integrate Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture Sector
Punjab collaborates with IIT Ropar to implement AI-driven solutions for farm productivity, sustainability, and enhanced farmer income.
Chandigarh, Jan 2: In a major push to modernize agriculture, the Punjab government announced plans to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in the farming sector, leveraging support from the Centre of Excellence established at IIT Ropar. The initiative aims to boost productivity, improve sustainability, and increase farmers’ income across the state.
Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian chaired a high-level review meeting at Punjab Bhawan to assess progress and chart a roadmap for the deployment of AI-driven solutions at the field level. Khudian emphasized that advanced technologies must deliver tangible benefits to farmers and assured government support for pilot projects and the scaling up of successful AI interventions.
Officials were directed to facilitate the installation of automatic weather stations, strengthen farmer engagement for field data collection, support horticulture clusters, and expand AI-based solutions for livestock productivity.
Highlighting the collaboration with IIT Ropar, Khudian welcomed the launch of national-level courses on precision agriculture and AI in agriculture, aimed at skill development among youth and capacity building for government officers. Special reservation of seats for Punjab students and officers will strengthen the state’s human resource base in agri-technology.
Pushpendra P. Singh, Associate Professor at IIT Ropar, briefed officials on the Centre of Excellence’s initiatives, backed by a Rs 310-crore outlay from the Government of India. Key projects include AI-based crop advisory systems, multilingual farmer chatbots, digital crop twins, yield estimation models, soil health analytics, weather intelligence tools, and smart livestock management applications.
The partnership positions Punjab as a frontrunner in AI-driven agricultural transformation, aiming to enhance resource efficiency, climate resilience, and sustainable growth in the agriculture and allied sectors.
