AgriLens was initiated in January 2025 by a team of undergraduate students from IIT Madras with the objective of developing accessible, data-driven decision support tools for agriculture. The project began through farmer interviews across multiple states to better understand how crop planning decisions are made in practice and what challenges farmers face in accessing and interpreting information related to weather, markets, and agricultural advisories.
Based on these early interactions, we selected the Vellore region of Tamil Nadu as the pilot area and began developing a platform that combines climate, soil, market, and advisory data into actionable recommendations. AgriLens is currently in its pilot development and validation phase.
Research & Field Understanding
Conducted initial farmer interviews across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra.
Identified weather uncertainty, market volatility, and advisory accessibility as key challenges.
Selected Vellore–Tirupathur as the pilot district based on accessibility, farmer engagement opportunities, and data availability.
Data Infrastructure
Collected and structured agricultural datasets covering crop information, climate indicators, soil characteristics, and market trends.
Developed standardized data formats to support efficient processing and future API integration.
Technical Development
Built the first version of the AgriLens user interface.
Developed an initial crop risk and suitability prediction engine.
Established GitHub-based development workflows and cloud infrastructure for collaborative development.
Created organizational infrastructure including a dedicated domain, workspace, and centralized project management systems.
Project Support
Secured initial project funding through a competitive innovation and incubation program.
Established initial outreach channels with agricultural stakeholders and identified potential pilot-testing partners for field validation.
Current Focus
Development of machine learning-based recommendation models.
Integration of weather, market, and advisory data pipelines.
Tamil-language and voice-based interaction support.
Preparation for pilot deployment and field validation in the Vellore–Tirupathur region.
