Following the launch of the PaddyMitra chatbot by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for farmers in Odisha, efforts are now underway to expand its reach through partnerships with extension organizations and service providers.

PaddyMitra is a WhatsApp chatbot designed to provide site-specific nutrient management advisories, advisories on weed and nursery management, and weather alerts to farmers and extension agents for rice-based cropping systems. The platform provides an easy-to-use conversational interface through WhatsApp platform in regional language. It also has voice input features enabling farmers to interact with the platform easily.

IRRI is working with partners who have a strong field presence to ensure that the benefits of PaddyMitra’s advisories reach more rice farmers across the state.

As part of this approach, IRRI recently conducted an orientation and training session on  PaddyMitra for members of the Reliance Foundation team in Odisha.

Reliance Foundation is actively working across 12 districts in Odisha, engaging with nearly 100,000 farmers through both on-ground interventions and digital advisory services. Its flagship programme, titled “Improving Self-Reliant and Resilient Communities Leading Towards Thriving and Sustainable Economies, Improving Lives and Livelihoods,” focuses on strengthening rural communities by enhancing agricultural productivity, resilience, and livelihood opportunities. Under this programme, the collaboration with IRRI aims to familiarize the extension team with PaddyMitra’s features and explore opportunities for collaboration to strengthen its delivery to rice farmers.

The orientation provided Reliance Foundation’s field teams with hands-on experience in using the chatbot and how it can complement their existing advisory services. A total of 88 field staff were trained to use the chatbot. It was encouraging to note that the team felt the chatbot can benefit the rice growers of their area and will be useful for providing timely crop management advisories. They also suggested expanding the chatbot’s scope making it more comprehensive by including additional topics such as market information, insect–pest management, and disease advisories.

Looking ahead

Following the training, IRRI and Reliance Foundation plan to integrate PaddyMitra into farmer outreach activities during the coming cropping season in Odisha. The collaboration will focus on disseminating the chatbot through field teams, encouraging farmers to use its advisories, gathering feedback from users, and identifying ways to improve the chatbot’s content and usability. The partnership also aims to support capacity building of extension workers and community resource persons, enabling them to use digital tools to deliver timely, location-specific advisories to farmers.

By working with organizations like Reliance Foundation, IRRI aims to scale digital agriculture solutions more effectively, ensuring that farmers receive reliable and research-based recommendations that can improve productivity, resilience, and sustainability in rice-based farming systems.