{
    "title": "ICRISAT and Soket AI Partner to Advance AI Solutions for Climate-Resilient Agriculture  ",
    "modified_at": "2026-06-17 14:22:57",
    "published_at": "2026-06-11 10:15:00",
    "url": "https://pressroom.icrisat.org/icrisat-and-soket-ai-partner-to-advance-ai-solutions-for-climate-resilient-agriculture",
    "short_url": "http://prez.ly/dPHd",
    "culture": "en",
    "language": "EN",
    "subtitle": "Bringing together agricultural science and artificial intelligence to build smarter, more resilient agrifood systems",
    "slug": "icrisat-and-soket-ai-partner-to-advance-ai-solutions-for-climate-resilient-agriculture",
    "body": "<p>As climate shocks become more frequent and farming decisions increasingly complex, access to timely, reliable and locally relevant agricultural knowledge has never been more important.</p><p>Imagine if decades of agricultural research, climate intelligence and field experience could be accessed instantly to help farmers, researchers, extension systems and policymakers make better decisions. </p><p>To help turn that vision into reality, ICRISAT and \u200b <a href=\"https://soket.ai/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Soket AI Labs</a> signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 27 May 2026 to jointly develop next-generation AI solutions that can strengthen agricultural research, climate resilience and decision-making across the Global South.</p><p>This collaboration brings together ICRISAT&rsquo;s globally recognized expertise in agricultural science, climate adaptation and digital innovation with Soket AI&rsquo;s advanced capabilities in artificial intelligence and foundational model development. </p>\n    <figure\n        class=\"release-content-image release-content-image--contained release-content-image--align-center\"\n        data-component=\"image-zoom-popup\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-selector=\".release-content-image__image\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-i18n=\"data:application/json;base64,eyJEb3dubG9hZCI6IkRvd25sb2FkIn0=\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-tracking-views-event=\"Story Image View\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-tracking-download-event=\"Story Image Download\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-placement=\"content\"\n    >\n        <div class=\"image-thumbnail-rollover\" style=\"width: 100%\">\n            <img\n                src=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/595f52d2-5bd2-4136-8e9e-a994759bdf17/-/crop/1544x442/0,0/-/preview/-/resize/1200x/-/format/auto/\"\n                                class=\"release-content-image__image image-thumbnail-rollover__image\"\n                data-description=\"&lt;em&gt;ICRISAT and Soket AI sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) virtually.&lt;/em&gt;\"\n                id=\"image-595f52d2-5bd2-4136-8e9e-a994759bdf17\"\n                data-id=\"595f52d2-5bd2-4136-8e9e-a994759bdf17\"\n                data-original=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/595f52d2-5bd2-4136-8e9e-a994759bdf17/-/crop/1544x442/0,0/-/preview/-/inline/no/Screenshot+2026-05-27+152138.png\"\n                data-mfp-src=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/595f52d2-5bd2-4136-8e9e-a994759bdf17/-/crop/1544x442/0,0/-/preview/-/resize/1200x/-/format/auto/\"\n                alt=\"ICRISAT and Soket AI sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) virtually.\"\n            />\n            <div class=\"image-thumbnail-rollover__caption\">\n                <svg class=\"icon icon-expand image-thumbnail-rollover__caption-icon\">\n                <use xlink:href=\"#icon-expand\"></use>\n            </svg>            </div>\n        </div>\n\n        <figcaption class=\"release-content-image__caption\"><em>ICRISAT and Soket AI sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) virtually.</em></figcaption>\n    </figure>\n<blockquote><strong>&ldquo;Artificial intelligence has the potential to reshape how agricultural knowledge is created, accessed and applied,&rdquo; said Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICRISAT. </strong></blockquote><blockquote><strong>&ldquo;To deliver impact, AI systems must be grounded in science, trusted data and local realities. Agriculture demands more than generic AI, it requires systems that can reason with context and support better decisions.</strong></blockquote><blockquote><strong>&ldquo;Together, we aim to develop AI solutions that address the complex challenges facing agriculture across the Global South,&rdquo; said Dr Pathak. </strong></blockquote><p>Soket AI is an emerging Indian AI company supported under the Government of India&rsquo;s IndiaAI Mission, to develop large-scale AI models optimized for reasoning, multilingual intelligence and applications relevant to the Global South.</p><p>The ICRISAT-SoketAI collaboration will focus on developing reasoning-driven AI systems that support more informed decision-making across crop production, climate risk management, natural resource management, and agrifood systems development.</p><h4 id=\"areas-of-collaboration-will-include\" ><strong>Areas of collaboration will include:</strong></h4><ul class=\"release-content-list release-content-list--bulleted release-content-list--align-inherit\"><li><span>Building large-scale agricultural knowledge corpora</span></li><li><span>Developing reasoning-driven AI systems for agriculture</span></li><li><span>Strengthening AI-powered advisory and decision-support tools</span></li><li><span>Exploring domain-specific foundation models for agriculture</span></li><li><span>Advancing multilingual AI solutions that improve accessibility for farmers and agricultural stakeholders</span></li></ul><blockquote><strong>&quot;Together with ICRISAT, we look forward to developing next-generation AI solutions that can create meaningful impact for agriculture and farming communities at scale,&rdquo; said Mr Abhishek Upperwal, Founder and CEO of Soket AI. </strong></blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As agriculture enters the era of artificial intelligence, ICRISAT is advancing efforts to harness AI for accelerating scientific discovery and delivering actionable insights to farmers. This partnership brings together complementary expertise to develop next-generation agricultural intelligence systems, including domain-specific reasoning models, high-quality datasets, and structured knowledge frameworks. </p><p>Led by Dr Shalander Kumar, Principal Scientist, and Dr G Kishore Kumar, Associate Scientist, the initiative will help build robust AI solutions that support research, innovation, and evidence-based decision-making across agri-food systems. Contributing to <a href=\"https://www.cgiar.org/cgiar-research-portfolio-2025-2030/digital-transformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CGIAR&#039;s digital transformation</a> agenda, this collaboration will combine frontier AI capabilities with agricultural science to develop evidence-based solutions for researchers, extension systems, policymakers and farmers across the Global South.</p>\n    <figure\n        class=\"release-content-image release-content-image--contained release-content-image--align-left\"\n        data-component=\"image-zoom-popup\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-selector=\".release-content-image__image\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-i18n=\"data:application/json;base64,eyJEb3dubG9hZCI6IkRvd25sb2FkIn0=\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-tracking-views-event=\"Story Image View\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-tracking-download-event=\"Story Image Download\"\n        data-image-zoom-popup-placement=\"content\"\n    >\n        <div class=\"image-thumbnail-rollover\" style=\"width: 31.67%\">\n            <img\n                src=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/f9e62075-335d-4986-bf99-c43d7e02a4fa/-/resize/1200x/-/format/auto/\"\n                                class=\"release-content-image__image image-thumbnail-rollover__image\"\n                data-description=\"\"\n                id=\"image-f9e62075-335d-4986-bf99-c43d7e02a4fa\"\n                data-id=\"f9e62075-335d-4986-bf99-c43d7e02a4fa\"\n                data-original=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/f9e62075-335d-4986-bf99-c43d7e02a4fa/-/inline/no/E-WEB-Goal-17.png\"\n                data-mfp-src=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/f9e62075-335d-4986-bf99-c43d7e02a4fa/-/resize/1200x/-/format/auto/\"\n                alt=\"Story image\"\n            />\n            <div class=\"image-thumbnail-rollover__caption\">\n                <svg class=\"icon icon-expand image-thumbnail-rollover__caption-icon\">\n                <use xlink:href=\"#icon-expand\"></use>\n            </svg>            </div>\n        </div>\n\n        <figcaption class=\"release-content-image__caption\"></figcaption>\n    </figure>\n<div class=\"release-content-contact\" id=\"contact-5f4397ea-e0f3-4c75-ae00-6eb3023c1312\">\n    <div class=\"release-content-contact__avatar\"><img src=\"https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/6f990d02-ecc0-408e-9a1f-8fc2f62c5081/-/crop/682x682/62,0/-/preview/-/scale_crop/128x128/center/-/format/auto/\" alt=\"Roseleen Aind\" class=\"release-content-contact__avatar-image\" /></div>\n    <div class=\"release-content-contact__details\">\n        <strong class=\"release-content-contact__name\">Roseleen Aind</strong>\n        <em class=\"release-content-contact__description\">Senior Communications Specialist - Asia</em>\n        <ul class=\"release-content-contact__details-list\"><li class=\"release-content-contact__details-list-item\"><a href=\"mailto:roseleen.aind@icrisat.org\"  class=\"release-content-contact__details-list-item-link\" title=\"roseleen.aind@icrisat.org\"><svg class=\"icon icon-paper-plane release-content-contact__details-list-item-icon\">\n                <use xlink:href=\"#icon-paper-plane\"></use>\n            </svg>roseleen.aind@icrisat.org</a></li>\n<li class=\"release-content-contact__details-list-item\"><a href=\"https://www.icrisat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"release-content-contact__details-list-item-link\" title=\"icrisat.org\"><svg class=\"icon icon-browser release-content-contact__details-list-item-icon\">\n                <use xlink:href=\"#icon-browser\"></use>\n            </svg>icrisat.org</a></li></ul>\n    </div>\n</div><h4 id=\"related-articles\" >Related Articles: </h4><div id=\"bookmark-479a8524-4b26-4fa9-b4d9-cd5c5be9103f\"\n     class=\"release-content-bookmark release-content-bookmark--horizontal\">\n\n            <a class=\"release-content-bookmark__thumbnail\"\n           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url(https://prezly.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.uc.assets.prezly.com%2Fc8bf954d-560b-4114-b2e1-f8297dd19333%2F-%2Fpreview%2F600x600%2F?ar=1%3A1&amp;fit=crop&amp;s=617a67f6040d3188428391004f151f58)\"\n        ></a>\n    \n    <div class=\"release-content-bookmark__details\">\n\n                    <a class=\"release-content-bookmark__title\"\n               href=\"https://pressroom.icrisat.org/icrisat-signs-mou-with-government-of-odisha-under-the-national-drought-mitigation-project\"\n               rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\n               target=\"_blank\"               data-type=\"bookmark\"\n               data-track=\"Story WebBookmark Click\"\n               data-placement=\"content\"\n               data-id=\"61fce427-5618-437f-beff-90711e0c4f18\"\n           >\n                ICRISAT Signs MoU with Government of Odisha under the National Drought Mitigation Project            </a>\n        \n                    <div class=\"release-content-bookmark__description\">\n                The Department of Agriculture &amp; Farmers\u2019 Empowerment (DAFE), Government of Odisha, organized Krushi Odisha 2026, a flagship annual event that...            </div>\n        \n        <a href=\"https://pressroom.icrisat.org/\"\n           target=\"_blank\"\n           rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"\n           class=\"release-content-bookmark__provider\"\n        >\n            <img class=\"release-content-bookmark__provider-icon\" src=\"https://avatars.prezly.com/favicon?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpressroom.icrisat.org%2Ficrisat-signs-mou-with-government-of-odisha-under-the-national-drought-mitigation-project&newsroom=15f770b6-1eeb-49ba-8108-24bd178a4417\" aria-hidden=\"true\" />\n            The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics        </a>\n    </div>\n</div>\n<p><em>This work aligns with SDG 17.</em></p>",
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        {
            "description": "TAFE\u2019s JFarm and ICRISAT Partner to Set Up Agri-Research Center in Hyderabad",
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