The platform aims to maximise farm returns through the coordinated use of surface water and groundwater.

R Saravanan, director of the Centre for Water Resources, and adjunct faculty at the Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management, said, “The MOON toolkit will be useful for governments while framing policies on agriculture, water allocation and energy management. It will initially be launched as a web-based dashboard, with plans to develop a mobile application.”

The tool has been created under the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) project funded by the UK government. In India, the project is implemented through two streams: Northern Partnership Fund led by Panjab University and Southern Partnership Fund handled by Anna University’s Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management. Research under the CCG project focuses on sustainable energy transition, circular economy and climate-resilient cities.

As part of the Southern Partnership Fund, the Anna University team has focused on integrating agriculture, water management and energy planning through the MOON platform. In TN, farmers often face losses due to falling groundwater levels and uneven monsoon rainfall, leading to irrigation stress. The toolkit seeks to address these challenges through integrated, long-term resource planning.

The initiative aims to support fair and stable farm incomes while ensuring uninterrupted agricultural operations and food security. It also promotes judicious use of groundwater, efficient management of water stored in tanks and reservoirs, and energy conservation in agriculture. The approach adopts a multi-objective optimisation framework that balances competing demands of water, energy and farm productivity.

According to the developers, the tool offers guidance based on time and prevailing environmental conditions. It already contains extensive datasets for all 38 districts of TN, including average rainfall, storage capacity of lakes, tanks and rivers, and dominant crops. The platform can be used by the public.