Ropar: IIT-Ropar on Monday announced the deployment of 100 advanced AI-based weather stations across Punjab by March 30 this year to establish a statewide weather intelligence network at no cost to farmers.The initiative has been taken under ANNAM.AI, a Government of India-supported Centre of Excellence at IIT Ropar.The automatic weather stations are set to provide hyperlocal, real-time data to help farmers take decisions on sowing, irrigation, pest control and harvesting. The initiative aims to cut 7-9% crop losses linked to unpredictable weather and save up to 20-30% irrigation water. In a statement, ANNAM.AI said the network was also expected to strengthen crop insurance modelling, disaster preparedness, irrigation planning and MSP strategies. The data was to power ANNAM.AI’s multilingual advisory platform, enabling AI-driven recommendations and early pest and disease warnings within days of installation. As part of the rollout, ANNAM.AI said it would provide fully funded AI training to 10,000 students, rural youth and agri professionals to build grassroots capacity in climate-smart agriculture.After Punjab, the platform was to expand to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, with a pan-India interoperable agricultural intelligence system targeted by June this year.Of AI-driven future: IIT to host agri summitIIT-Ropar will host a ‘Smart Agri Summit’ on March 25, bringing together key stakeholders from govt, policy, and technology sectors. The summit will focus on transitioning Punjab from the legacy of the Green Revolution to an era of “Green Intelligence,” with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven farming solutions. Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian will be the chief guest, highlighting the government’s push to integrate advanced technologies into agriculture.
