IIT Ropar’s ANNAM AI, the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for AI in agriculture; the National Informatics Centre (NIC); and the Punjab State Farmers and Farm Workers’ Commission (PSFC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly make agriculture-related information and advisory services more accessible to farmers across the state.The MoU was signed by Pushpendra P. Singh, Project Director, ANNAM AI, IIT Ropar; Sukhpal Singh, Chairman, PSFC; and Vivek Verma, State Informatics Officer (SIO) and Deputy Director General, NIC Punjab.The three organisations discussed how their respective strengths could be combined for the benefit of farmers across the state.An IIT Ropar spokesperson said that each partner brings valuable expertise to the collaboration, with ANNAM AI contributing its AI-driven agricultural technologies, NIC Punjab providing digital platforms and technical expertise in the application of AI in governance, and PSFC bringing its knowledge of the agricultural sector and deep understanding of farmers’ needs.Together, the partners aim to help farmers in Punjab obtain reliable answers to their agricultural queries through existing service channels, making advisory support more accessible and easier to use, the spokesperson added.The spokesperson further said that a key area of collaboration is ANNAM AI’s ANNAM Chat Engine (ACE), an AI-powered agricultural advisory data engine led by Sudarshan Iyengar.Designed to address farmers’ agricultural queries, ACE draws on an agriculture-specific knowledge base to provide responses in multiple languages, offering expert-validated, authentic and reliable information.Under the MoU, the partners will integrate ANNAM AI’s ACE and the Kisan Call Centre (KCC) solution with the joint initiative of NIC and PSFC to develop an agriculture-exclusive database and web portal. The initiative could include voice-enabled interfaces, chatbots and mobile applications, making it easier for farmers to access relevant agricultural information and advisory services, the spokesperson said.The collaboration will also extend to ANNAM AI’s AI-based crop health solutions, which help identify pests and diseases, as well as its weather-monitoring systems, which track local weather conditions. Together, these technologies could provide farmers with better insights to support their day-to-day agricultural decisions.The partners will coordinate on technical requirements and potential applications, keeping farmers’ needs and Punjab’s agricultural ecosystem at the centre of their efforts, the IIT Ropar spokesperson said.Speaking about the collaboration, Dr Pushpendra P. Singh, Project Director, ANNAM AI, said, “Through this collaboration, we aim to bring together ANNAM AI’s expertise in agricultural AI with the institutional capabilities of NIC Punjab and the agricultural insights of PSFC to address the advisory needs of farmers. By combining our respective strengths, we aim to advance practical, technology-led solutions that can strengthen agricultural advisory services and support farmers in making informed decisions to improve productivity and yields.”