ANNAM.AI, the AI-in-agriculture Centre of Excellence at Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, has launched 'Farmers' Friday', a pioneering structured engagement initiative designed to strengthen regular interaction between farmers, agricultural researchers, and digital advisory systems.

Supported by the Ministry of Education and spearheaded under the guidance of Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, the initiative was formally launched through two foundational engagements—a campus-based interaction at IIT Ropar, followed by a village-level session at Belli village in Rupnagar district.

The initiative represents a paradigm shift in agricultural technology development by placing farmers at the centre of digital agriculture research and advisory system design. Unlike conventional top-down approaches, Farmers' Friday is built on the principle of listening to farmers first, understanding their immediate and long-term challenges, and using these insights to inform the development of responsible, field-tested digital solutions.

Participatory Framework Ensures Ground-Level Relevance

Each Farmers' Friday interaction follows a carefully structured participatory format. Sessions begin with open discussions where farmers articulate challenges they face across the agricultural ecosystem—from soil and water management to crop cycles, pest and disease incidence, weather variability, and market-linked decision-making. These discussions are designed to assess how timely, localised advisory inputs can support informed farm-level decisions.

The inaugural campus interaction witnessed participation from over 40 progressive farmers, alongside researchers and officials from the State Agriculture Department, including Agriculture Development Officers Dr. Baljit Singh and Dr. Riya. Sarpanches and progressive farmers shared experiences related to soil behaviour, weather patterns, crop cycles, pest management, and market dynamics, underscoring the critical importance of anchoring technology development in lived agricultural experience.

Village-Level Engagement Provides Context-Specific Insights

The village-level interaction at Belli brought together over 60 farmers who discussed day-to-day agricultural practices and emerging challenges related to soil health, water availability, seed quality, crop diseases, climate uncertainty, and livelihood sustainability. The session provided valuable insights into village-specific contexts and adaptive strategies currently being adopted by farming communities.

During the engagement, ANNAM.AI demonstrated its digital advisory platform, ACE (Agri Chat Engine), allowing farmers to interact with the system in their preferred languages. The platform generates crop-, soil-, and weather-related advisories tailored to local conditions. Farmer feedback highlighted the importance of clarity, localisation, and trust in digital advisory systems, with particular appreciation for the platform's practice of supporting each advisory with proper and credible sources.

Sustained Institutional Linkage for Long-Term Impact

Moving forward, Farmers' Friday interactions will be held regularly both on the IIT Ropar campus and in villages across the region. The framework is designed to establish sustained linkages between farmers and research institutions, ensuring that the development of digital advisory solutions remains responsive to field realities and farmer needs.

"Farmers' Friday represents our commitment to ensuring that digital agriculture innovation is not just technologically advanced, but fundamentally farmer-centric and grounded in real field conditions," the ANNAM.AI team stated. "By creating a recurring platform for dialogue, we aim to build agricultural advisory systems that complement and enhance farmers' own knowledge and experience."