Budget 2026: India to launch multilingual AI assistant for farmers
What's the story
In her Budget 2026 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of Bharat Vistaar, a multilingual AI-powered tool. The platform is aimed at strengthening the last-mile delivery of agricultural knowledge to Indian farmers. It will integrate the government's Agri Stack portal with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)'s package of practices, providing region-specific advisories in multiple Indian languages through a single interface.
Technological integration
Tool to contextualize crop, soil, weather data
Sitharaman also revealed that Bharat Vistaar will leverage AI to contextualize crop, soil, weather, and farm-practice data. This way, scientific inputs would be more accessible and actionable for farmers. The tool aims to support informed decision-making at the farm level by bringing together digital farmer records under Agri Stack and ICAR's research-backed recommendations.
Decision support
Platform aims to improve productivity, reduce risks for farmers
The Bharat Vistaar platform is designed to improve the adoption of best practices across diverse agro-climatic zones. By providing tailored guidance such as verified region-specific advisories and best practices, it hopes to help farmers boost productivity while reducing risks. The ultimate goal of this innovative platform is to empower Indian farmers with technology that speaks their language and assists them in making better decisions.