Maharashtra govt to hold Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Investment Summit on Feb 22

Maharashtra government to hold a two-day global Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Investment Summit- “AI for Agri 2026” under the ‘State Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy’ from February 22 and 23 at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai.

An institutional center for Artificial Intelligence and Agritech Innovation has been established to implement the policy. The government has approved ₹500 crore in the first phase for its implementation, as per the Agriculture Ministry office. 

“To ensure that farmers in Maharashtra gain access to global technologies through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and adopt innovative technologies in agriculture the conference will be held,” said Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane, adding that the initiative will be a major step toward implementing the Maharashtra Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025–2029. 

The Agriculture Artificial Intelligence policy promotes the practical use of AI in agriculture and allied sectors and develop the digital infrastructure such as MahaAgriX (Maharashtra Agriculture Data Exchange), AI-enabled traceability systems, AI-based geospatial intelligence engine, farmer-centric AI advisory platform – MahaVistar. 

According to the Agriculture Ministry, farmers and FPOs will gain exposure to AI-based crop advisory services, climate-resilient farm planning tools, early warning systems for pests and diseases, crop production forecasting, market intelligence systems, traceability-enabled value chains.

The conference will be organised in collaboration with global and national partners including the World Economic Forum (WEF), FAO, UNDP, IFAD, World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). The participants will include policymakers, international organizations, scientists, academic institutions, technology leaders, startups, investors, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and representatives of farming communities. The prominent participants will be Nandan Nilekani, Chairman and Co-founder of Infosys and Founding Chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar), Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson of MSSRF.

The exhibition will showcase cutting-edge innovations using AI and emerging technologies across the agricultural value chain, including precision farming, remote sensing and geospatial intelligence, AI-based advisory systems, climate risk analytics, traceability solutions, digital agri-finance, and market linkage platforms.