Hyderabad: Telangana farmers will soon be able to get AI-powered crop advice in Telugu, with the state agriculture department signing an MoU with the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) to integrate with the Centre’s national digital platform ‘Bharat-Vistaar’.
Bharat-Vistaar (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources) is an AI-based national digital public infrastructure developed by the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare. It integrates data from ICAR, IMD, agri-market systems, soil health and govt schemes on a single platform, with an AI voice assistant named ‘Bharati’ that can converse with farmers in their mother tongue.
The existing helpline 155261 will be enabled with a Telugu voice bot, while a dedicated Telugu portal and mobile app will be launched within 15-21 days of the MoU. A WhatsApp chatbot is planned in 45-60 days and a dedicated toll-free number with Telugu voice support will be launched after central approvals. Integration will be implemented under RKVY for 2026-27 with central and state funding, and the DPR has already been approved by the Centre.
Officials said it will be rolled out in four phases — first enabling Telugu on the national bot, then integrating state schemes and local agronomic practices, followed by application and grievance status, and finally wider data integration with farmer consent. Services will be rolled out through four channels. This will enable even non-smartphone users to access advisories via voice calls.