IIT Ropar’s ANNAM.AI is ‘green intelligence in action’ and future of agriculture technology: Project director

In February last year, the union education ministry selected four top educational institutions – All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Ropar (Punjab) – to set up four centres of excellence in artificial intelligence (AI), as part of the centre’s ‘Make AI in India and make AI work for India’ mission, with an outlay of Rs 990 crore over five years.

IIT Ropar’s centre, ANNAM.AI, has been tasked with providing AI-based solutions for agriculture against the backdrop of climate uncertainty. The project aims to bring real‑time weather insights, AI‑powered crop diagnostics, and multilingual advisories to help farmers.

In this conversation with Careers360 , Pushpendra P Singh , project director of ANNAM.AI, and an associate professor at IIT Ropar, explains how the platform works, why it matters, and how it is preparing what he calls ‘India’s next generation of agri‑tech innovators’. Edited excerpts:

What is the objective of setting up IIT Ropar ANNAM.AI?

The core objective is to build India’s first agricultural intelligence ecosystem - a national platform that gives farmers access to real-time, hyper-local, and science-based decision support. With climate variability causing 7-15% annual crop losses in many regions, ANNAM.AI aims to shift Indian agriculture from reactive responses to predictive, data-driven green intelligence. The mission is simple yet transformative – empower every farmer with the same level of intelligence that large enterprises use - right in their own language, on their own phone.

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What are some of the key initiatives and activities of the centre?

• ANNAM.AI is driving a suite of national-scale initiatives:
• AI‑powered weather and micro climate stations across the nation
• KrishiAI, a digital twin platform for crop and pest diagnostics
• Annam Chat Engine (ACE), a multilingual farmers’ advisory system
• Digital twins of farms for climate-smart planning
• ANNAM.AI Information Centre offering offline AI access
• Large-scale farmer pilots to validate real-world impact

Together, these initiatives form a unified platform that supports the entire agricultural value chain, from soil health to market intelligence.

How does the centre involve students and researchers at IIT Ropar and other institutes?

ANNAM.AI functions as a living innovation ecosystem. Students and researchers work directly on AI model development; sensor design and calibration; field deployments and farmer engagement; data analytics and climate modeling; and app development and UX design.

This hands-on exposure ensures that young innovators learn to build technology that works in real Indian conditions, not just in controlled labs. It also nurtures a new generation of engineers fluent in both AI and agriculture.

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Does the centre run any academic or skilling programmes?

Yes. ANNAM.AI runs structured programmes

• AI for agriculture
• Climate-smart farming technologies
• IoT and sensor systems
• Data science for rural applications

These include short-term workshops, semester electives, and hands-on lab modules. The goal is to create a new generation of green intelligence professionals who can bridge agriculture, engineering and AI.

Does the centre work with other educational institutions?

Absolutely. ANNAM.AI collaborates with IITs, NITs, agricultural universities , and international partners. These collaborations include joint research projects, shared field trials, student exchange and internships and co-development of AI models and datasets.

This multi-institutional network ensures that innovations developed at IIT Ropar can be tested, refined, and scaled across diverse agro-climatic zones.

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How does the centre facilitate collaboration between academia, industry, and policymakers?

ANNAM.AI acts as a national bridge between all three. For example, industry partners co-develop sensors, drones, and analytics tools, while state governments use ANNAM.AI’s climate and crop intelligence for planning. Academic teams validate models and publish research and farmer-producer organisations help test prototypes on the ground

This creates a 360‑degree innovation loop, where science informs policy, policy guides deployment, and deployment generates new scientific insights.

How do your AI-based weather stations work? Have you assessed their impact so far?

Each station captures real-time micro climate data, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall, and solar radiation, and feeds it into ANNAM.AI’s predictive models.

Early assessments show 20–30% water savings through better irrigation timing as well as a reduction in unnecessary pesticide sprays. We have also observed faster response to heat waves and rainfall events and improved crop protection due to timely alerts. Farmers report that even a two-three hour advance warning of weather changes can prevent significant losses.

This is green intelligence in action.

ANNAM.AI has announced AI training for students, rural youth, and agri-professionals. Can you share details of this initiative?

The programme is designed to democratise AI skills across rural India. It will be run in hybrid-mode with online and hands-on sessions at ANNAM.AI centers, with a cumulative duration of 20 to 40 hours. The curriculum will include:

Basics of AI and data science

• AI in agriculture
• Weather and climate intelligence
• IoT sensors and field data collection
• Digital advisory systems
• Entrepreneurship in agri‑tech

The goal is to build a one lakh-strong green intelligence workforce that can support farmers, startups, and local communities.

What are the future plans for ANNAM.AI?

Our roadmap includes scaling to multiple states across India and building a national agricultural data backbone open to all as digital public infrastructure (DPI). We also plan to expanding digital twins to millions of farms, launching AI-powered farmer assistance tools and create a marketplace for climate-smart agri-solutions. Supporting startups through an Agri-AI Innovation Hub and our ecosystem partners is also in the pipeline.

The long-term vision is to make ANNAM.AI a pan-India digital public infrastructure for agriculture, much as UPI transformed digital payments.

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How can agriculture and engineering colleges incorporate AI into their curricula?

• Colleges can begin by introducing:
• Courses on AI for Agriculture
• Hands-on modules using real farm datasets
• Labs on sensors, drones, and IoT
• Field-based learning with local farmers
• Joint projects with ANNAM.AI and other national platforms

The goal is to prepare students for a future where green intelligence - the fusion of AI, climate science, and agriculture - becomes central to India’s food systems. ANNAM.AI and IIT Ropar are ready to support such initiatives for nation-building.