Pioneering AI-Powered Weather Forecasting for 38 Million Indian Farmers

Pioneering AI-Powered Weather Forecasting for 38 Million Indian Farmers

We’re incredibly proud to share that Precision Development (PxD) led the message design and supported dissemination for India’s first-of-its-kind AI-based weather forecasting program, reaching 38 million farmers across 13 states in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. 

This groundbreaking initiative marks a major leap forward in applying cutting-edge AI technology to directly benefit smallholder farmers. Working alongside partners at the Human Centered Weather Forecast Initiative at the University of Chicago and the Development Innovation Lab – India, we collaborated with the Ministry to harness the power of open-access AI models that have transformed weather science since 2022. The science behind this forecasting was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal: “Farmers in India Are Tracking Monsoon Season With the Help of AI”. 

Yet moving from forecast to last-mile delivery requires far more than scientific innovation.

PxD supported the Ministry in bridging this gap by testing multiple rounds of farmer messaging to ensure advice was comprehensible and actionable, identifying appropriate dissemination channels, and supporting implementation. 

What made this program unique:

• Farmer-centric design: We worked directly with farmers to ensure messages were understood and actionable, translating complex AI-generated forecasts into clear, timely guidance for agricultural decision-making
• Emphasis on accuracy: The AI models deployed were shown to clearly outperform other available forecasts at predicting monsoon onset in India. This year, the model correctly predicted a critical 20-day pause in the northward progression of the monsoon, enabling farmers to adapt their planting strategies in real time. 
• Unprecedented scale: Dissemination of weekly forecast updates via SMS to 38 million farmers – the largest farmer-focused AI communication initiative of its kind.

As Nobel Laureate Professor Michael Kremer noted in the recent program review with Additional Secretary Dr. Pramod Kumar Meherda and Joint Secretary Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal:

“This is a huge achievement by the Ministry of Agriculture, benefiting millions of farmers and putting India at the cutting edge of addressing the needs of farmers. The Ministry’s program is a model for how to put people first in the age of AI.”

By combining advanced AI weather models with our deep expertise in farmer-centered communication design, we’re helping transform how climate information reaches those who need it most.

As climate variability increases, initiatives like this demonstrate how AI can be harnessed not just for technological advancement but also for meaningful impact on the lives of smallholder farmers, who form the backbone of global food systems.

We’re grateful to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare for their visionary leadership and to our partners for their collaboration in making this unprecedented program possible. This is what happens when cutting-edge technology meets farmer-first design principles.