Wadhwani AI and IRRI partner to develop AI-powered rice advisory in India
Wadhwani AI and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) signed an MoU to develop and evaluate AI-based advisory tools for Indian rice farmers. The partnership will explore science-based recommendations, pest and disease diagnostics through PaddyMitra, field trials and data-driven insights to improve agricultural decision-making and advisory services.
NEW DELHI, India (14 October 2026)—Wadhwani AI, the AI unit of Lords Education and Health Society (LEHS), and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop and evaluate AI-based agricultural advisory tools for rice farmers in India.
The partnership brings together IRRI’s decades of rice research and digital advisory tools, including the PaddyMitra chatbot, with Wadhwani AI’s experience in developing AI tools for agriculture, including CropAce, an AI-enabled computer vision app that helps detect crop pests and diseases from field images and offers localized, actionable recommendations for faster decisions.
The two organizations will assess how AI can support farmers and extension workers with more timely and accurate information, while keeping agricultural advice grounded in established agronomic recommendations.
What the Collaboration Will Explore
The MoU covers several areas of potential collaboration:
- Science-based advisories: Aligning AI-generated advice and diagnostic outputs with IRRI’s crop management recommendations and other validated agronomic evidence;
- Diagnostics through PaddyMitra: Exploring integration of validated pest and disease diagnostic capabilities into IRRI’s PaddyMitra advisory platform, giving farmers and extension staff direct access to these tools;
- Joint field trials and applied research: Testing emerging AI applications, from image-based crop diagnostics to predictive modeling, under field conditions and using feedback from farmers and extension staff to improve the tools; and
- Data and knowledge products: Developing data-driven insights and mapping tools to build evidence on the effectiveness and scalability of AI-based agricultural solutions.
The MoU also allows both institutions to pursue other areas of mutual interest as the partnership develops.
These areas of work support a broader effort to strengthen digital agricultural advisory services, from the science behind the advice to how AI tools are tested and used in the field.
Strengthening the Advisory Ecosystem
For IRRI, this means strengthening the scientific content, evaluation, and data practices that underpin digital advice. Dr. Shalini Gakhar, IRRI Data Scientist and Centre Focal Point, CGIAR Digital Transformation Accelerator, said partnerships such as this are important to build a stronger digital advisory ecosystem.
“Our focus is on strengthening the shared framework, validated agronomic content, rigorous evaluation, and responsible data governance so that such innovations can be integrated in ways that are scientifically sound and genuinely useful to farmers. This collaboration with Wadhwani AI is a strong example of that vision in practice,” she said.
Supporting the partnership, J P Mani Tripathi, Director-Agriculture, Wadhwani AI, said AI can make agricultural advice more accessible, timely, and relevant to farmers, while strong agricultural science ensures these solutions meet farmers’ needs.
“Partnering with IRRI allows us to combine our expertise in AI with deep knowledge of rice production and farmer needs. We see this partnership as an important step toward building advisory solutions that can work at scale in India,” Mr. Tripathi said.
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Source : IRRI
