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Informist, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025

 

MUMBAI – The Centre sent artificial intelligence-based advanced monsoon forecasts through m-Kisan, a mobile-based service portal, to nearly 38 million farmers across 13 states this year. This forecast was available to the farmers up to four weeks ahead of the rainfall, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a release on Friday.

 

AI-based models made it possible to design forecasts specifically for farmers' needs, giving them a critical tool for planning their kharif agricultural decisions, according to the release. This is the first-of-its-kind targeted dissemination of AI weather forecasts to date. "This program harnesses the revolution in AI-based weather forecasting to predict the arrival of continuous rains, empowering farmers to plan agricultural activities with greater confidence and manage risks," Pramod Kumar Meherda, additional secretary of the agricultural ministry, said in a programme review meeting at Krishi Bhavan on Sept. 8.

 

The onset of southwest monsoon was early this year, but there was a pause in the northward progression–stalling rains mid-season for 20 days. The AI-based forecasts distributed by the agricultural ministry correctly identified this pause in monsoon progression, according to the release.

 

The government sent updated information to farmers every week until continuous rains arrived in their area. "As climate change increases weather variability, forecasts are a useful tool to help farmers adapt," Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, joint secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, said.

 

The forecasts used were a blend of two open-access models--Google's Neural General Circulation Model and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts AI forecasting systems. In rigorous evaluations, these models were shown to clearly outperform other available forecasts at predicting the start of the monsoon locally for farmers.  End

 

Reported by Taniva Singha Roy

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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