According to officials, Khuddian emphasised that new technologies must provide clear benefits to farmers.
From Fields to AI: Punjab’s INR 310 Crore Push for Smarter Agriculture
The Punjab government has announced initiatives to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve agricultural productivity, sustainability, and farmers’ incomes across the state. The announcement came during a high-level review meeting chaired by Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian at Punjab Bhawan, focusing on moving AI adoption from pilot experiments to measurable field-level impact.
According to officials, Khuddian emphasised that new technologies must provide clear benefits to farmers. He directed officials to expand AI-based solutions beyond demonstrations, including the installation of automatic weather stations, greater farmer participation in systematic data collection, targeted support for horticulture clusters, and extending AI applications to livestock productivity.
The government is collaborating with the Centre of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar to lead the AI rollout. Pushpendra P Singh of IIT Ropar said the work is part of a nearly INR 310 crore Centre programme supported by the Government of India. The initiative includes AI-driven crop advisory systems, multilingual farmer chatbots, yield-estimation models, soil-health analytics, weather intelligence tools, and smart livestock management solutions.
Khuddian also welcomed IIT Ropar’s plan to launch national-level courses in precision agriculture and AI applications, with reserved seats for Punjab students and government officers, to build local agritech capacity.
Government sources indicated that integrating AI is expected to improve resource efficiency, climate resilience, and market linkages, positioning Punjab as a leading state in AI-driven agricultural transformation.
Source: Economic Times
