As India enters the kharif sowing season with a renewed focus on increasing domestic oilseed production and reducing dependence on edible oil imports, the ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research (ICAR-IIOR), Hyderabad, has launched ‘Oilseeds Kisaan Mitra’, a WhatsApp-based AI advisory platform designed to provide instant, research-backed guidance to farmers across the country.
The service was recently launched by the Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, ICAR, reinforcing the organisation’s efforts to leverage digital technologies for the benefit of the farming community.
Bringing research to farmers’ fingertips
The AI-powered advisory service enables oilseed growers to access free crop-related information directly through WhatsApp without downloading any additional application.
Farmers can save the number 91 4024598180 as ‘Oilseeds Kisaan Mitra’ and ask questions in any Indian language related to groundnut, mustard, sesame, sunflower, soybean, niger and other oilseed crops. The chatbot provides instant responses on variety selection, crop management, pest and disease control, irrigation practices and post-harvest management round the clock.
Multilingual AI for wider reach
ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research Director Dr. R.K. Mathur said, “Oilseeds Kisaan Mitra is the first time ICAR’s collective oilseed research has been delivered to every farmer in the country, in their own language, on a platform they already use. By combining the scientific knowledge of ICAR-IIOR, NSRI, IIGR, IIRMR and the PC-Unit (Sesame & Niger) with a multilingual AI agent on WhatsApp, we have removed the long-standing barriers of distance, language, and cost between the laboratory and the farmer’s field.”
He added that as kharif sowing begins, oilseed farmers and other stakeholders should utilise the platform to access scientific guidance anytime, anywhere.
Powered by ICAR’s research network
According to ICAR-IIOR, the platform uses advanced artificial intelligence and a comprehensive knowledge base developed from the collective expertise of multiple ICAR institutes. The chatbot can understand queries typed in regional languages and provide crop-specific recommendations.
The advisory service covers the entire crop cycle, including seed selection, agronomic practices, pest and disease management, irrigation scheduling, post-harvest handling and seed availability.
Collaborative knowledge ecosystem
The knowledge repository powering the platform has been developed in collaboration with ICAR-National Soybean Research Institute (NSRI), Indore; ICAR-Indian Institute of Groundnut Research (IIGR), Junagadh; ICAR-Indian Institute of Rapeseed and Mustard Research (IIRMR), Bharatpur; and the PC-Unit (Sesame & Niger).
The collaboration aims to ensure comprehensive coverage of major oilseed crops across diverse agro-climatic regions of India, helping farmers access trusted scientific information in a simple and accessible format.
With the kharif season underway, ICAR expects the AI-enabled platform to play a key role in supporting informed decision-making among oilseed farmers and strengthening the country’s efforts towards achieving greater self-reliance in edible oil production.