Institutionalizing the Dissemination of Farmer-Focused Forecasts to Smallholder Farmers in India

Precision Development (PxD), in collaboration with DIL India and India’s Ministry of Agriculture, is piloting the dissemination of total rainfall and monsoon onset forecasts to over 9 million farmers via government digital platforms in 2024. To scale this initiative nationwide, the project proposes to strengthen and institutionalize government systems for sustainable forecast delivery. Key activities include: (i) developing internal processes for seasonal dissemination, (ii) establishing farmer feedback and monitoring systems, (iii) supporting data-driven service design improvements, and (iv) building government capacity for long-term maintenance. Building on a JPAL-funded RCT (Burlig et al., 2024), which showed that accurate, localized forecasts influenced farmer behavior and improved welfare, this project leverages growing evidence that digital weather information can enhance agricultural outcomes. By embedding these services in public systems, the project aims to improve resilience and decision-making among millions of smallholder farmers facing increasing climate uncertainty