Written by PPL Newsroom• October 4, 2026• 7:00 am• Innovation

Voice-first AI brings farm advice to Indian farmers who only have basic phones

From Amul’s Sarlaben to the national Bharat-VISTAAR helpline, AI advice is now available by phone call, with no smartphone or app needed.

Farmers in India can now put questions to artificial intelligence by phone, in their own language, without a smartphone or an app. Government and cooperative platforms launched over the past 18 months, including the national Bharat-VISTAAR service and Amul’s Sarlaben in Gujarat, are built around a plain voice call. They aim to reach people who have been left out of app-based farm advice.

A phone call instead of an app

Bharat-VISTAAR is the national effort. According to the Press Information Bureau, the Government of India launched Phase-1 as a nationwide, AI-powered, voice-first, multilingual Digital Public Infrastructure platform. It was announced in the Union Budget 2026–27 with an allocation of Rs 150 crore. The ministry says a farmer with a simple feature phone can use it just by making a call.

Phase-1 began on 17 February 2026. It is available in Hindi and English through a dedicated number (155261), a voice-based AI chatbot, a ministry web portal and a mobile app. Officials said farmers will soon be able to interact in 11 languages. The service covers weather, market prices, pest and disease alerts and government scheme information, according to a PIB release on the launch.

State and cooperative models

Several states have their own versions. The ministry lists Vasudha in Marathi for Maharashtra, Amul AI’s Sarlaben in Gujarati, and the Bihar Krishi App in Hindi. The Maharashtra platform, MahaVISTAAR, was launched in May 2025 with the EkStep Foundation.

Sarlaben was unveiled on 11 February 2026. It is meant for more than 36 lakh milk producers across over 18,500 villages, most of them women. It gives guidance on cattle health, feeding, breeding, vaccination schedules and medical treatment, and information on government schemes and subsidies. Farmers can use the Amul Farmer app, but the service is also available via voice calls for feature phones and landlines in Gujarati. Amul’s managing director, Jayen Mehta, said the aim is to give farmers verified information quickly in a language they are comfortable with, according to Co-operative News.

Because the advice draws on cooperative records, it is not generic. The platform is built on one of India’s largest cooperative IT systems, linked to Amul’s milk collection system and the Pashudhan app.

What this means for India

Timely advice on pests, weather or animal health often decides whether a farmer loses income. Extension workers cannot be in every village at every critical moment. A free phone call in a local language can reach farmers who lack a smartphone, data or reading skills. Bharat-VISTAAR is also designed to bring scattered scheme and price information into one place. For now, though, it covers only two languages nationally, and state platforms fill some gaps.

What to watch

Reach is the first test. A World Bank feature describes “small AI” tools that run on basic smartphones and in areas with limited connectivity. A related Devdiscourse analysis cautions that farmers without smartphones, connectivity, land records or digital literacy may miss out, and women and tenant farmers could be excluded if platforms centre on registered landowners. It adds that voice-based access, local service centres and conventional extension networks must remain available.

Language coverage matters too. Hindi and English calls are a start, but much of the benefit depends on how well systems handle dialects. EkStep, the foundation behind several of these deployments, points out that call centres operate mainly in Hindi, leaving Marathi, Odia or Gujarati speakers with few reliable options. Whether the advice improves yields and incomes is not yet established in the sources reviewed.