Farmers across Telangana can now receive AI-enabled monsoon forecasts via WhatsApp, making the state the first in India to pioneer last-mile delivery of weather advisories for the upcoming Vaanakalam season, a rainy season that typically spans from June to October.
Since so much of Indian farming depends on rainfall, advance forecasts about the monsoon's onset can help farmers decide what to plant, how much, and when. Advisories will reach farmers in vernacular text, voice notes, and images — meeting farmers on a platform they already use, across literacy levels.
The forecasts come from an AI-enabled model developed by the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. The model provides probabilistic forecasts up to four weeks in advance, supporting farmers across 16 states and more than 3,000 sub-districts.
The work was formalized with Telangana's Department of Agriculture through a Memorandum of Understanding with Evidence Action under its AI Access Initiative (2AI) and represented by its technical partner EAII Advisors in India. Development Innovation Lab-India is serving as research and evaluation partner.
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