In a major push to integrate technology with farming, the Maharashtra government will organise a 2-day global Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Investment Summit titled “AI for Agri 2026” on February 22 and 23 at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai.
The event will be held under the State Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy. An institutional Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Agritech Innovation has already been set up to implement the policy. According to the Agriculture Ministry office, ₹500 crore has been approved in the first phase for execution.
“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. He added that the summit will mark a significant step toward implementing the Maharashtra Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025–2029.
The policy focuses on practical AI applications in agriculture and allied sectors. It aims to build digital infrastructure such as MahaAgriX (Maharashtra Agriculture Data Exchange), AI-enabled traceability systems, an AI-based geospatial intelligence engine, and a farmer-centric advisory platform called MahaVistar.
The Agriculture Ministry said 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, and 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).
Participants will include policymakers, international organisations, scientists, academic institutions, technology leaders, startups, investors, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and representatives of farming communities. Prominent attendees include Nandan Nilekani, Chairman and Co-founder of Infosys and Founding Chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar), and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson of MSSRF.
An exhibition at the summit will showcase AI-driven innovations across the agricultural value chain. These include precision farming, remote sensing, geospatial intelligence, AI-based advisory systems, climate risk analytics, traceability solutions, digital agri-finance, and market linkage platforms.
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