Tech for tomorrow’s farmer: A strategic blueprint for inclusive agtech

India’s agtech story is at an inflexion point. While innovation has advanced rapidly—from precision sensors and AI-driven advisories to solar pumps and platform-based mechanisation—the real question is whether these tools are truly reaching the smallest and most vulnerable farmers. Over 80 per cent of Indian farmers are small and marginal, cultivating less than two hectares each. For them, technology is not about efficiency upgrades; it is about survival, resilience and dignity. The goal should not simply be more advanced tools, but equitable access to solutions that make farming climate-resilient, profitable and sustainable at the grassroots.

Advisory platforms: Decision support, not just information

Farmers do not need endless streams of content; they need help in making the five or six critical decisions that define each season—when to sow, what to plant, how to irrigate, how much nutrient to apply and when to intervene against pests.

To serve this need, advisory platforms must:

* Move from fragmented messages to hyper-local, actionable intelligence.

* Be multilingual, vernacular and built for trust—using simple formats like WhatsApp or voice calls.

* Incorporate local wisdom and farmer group validation alongside formal agronomy data.

A farmer’s outcome changes when advice is coherent, timely and backed by local credibility. What matters is not the volume of apps but the clarity of one stream of guidance.

Community solar irrigation: From dependency to resilience

Water remains the ultimate hedge against erratic rainfall. Yet diesel-based irrigation chains farmers to both volatility and high costs. Community-owned solar irrigation offers a path forward—not just as a cleaner energy option but as a resilience engine.

Such systems work best when:

* Shared equitably with smart, prepaid tariffs.

* Governed by local collectives, with water use linked to aquifer health.

* Supported by local technicians who ensure uptime and quick maintenance.

The lesson here is simple: irrigation technology succeeds when it is embedded in community governance, not when it is deployed as hardware alone.

Shared mechanisation: Precision without ownership

Mechanisation is often thought of as tractors and harvesters owned by wealthy farmers. But for smallholders, timeliness matters more than ownership. Missing a sowing window by even a week can erase profits for the entire season.

Shared access models—custom hiring centres, platform-based rentals or cooperative ownership—can deliver this timeliness. When youth in villages are trained to operate and maintain equipment, it also creates dignified livelihoods. The real power comes when mechanisation is linked to advisories: rainfall alerts tied to seeder bookings, or pest warnings matched to sprayer availability.

Integration: Where impact compounds

These three levers—advisory, irrigation and mechanisation—do not work in silos. Their real power lies in integration:

* Advisory drives adoption.

* Solar irrigation lowers costs and stabilises water access.

* Mechanisation ensures timely precision in field operations.

For this integration to succeed, data must be shared responsibly, systems must interoperate and community institutions—FPOs, SHGs and panchayats—must act as stewards of assets and trust.

Guardrails for honest scale

As agritech scales, four principles are critical:

1. Inclusion by design—prioritising women farmers, tenants and remote villages.

2. Evidence over anecdotes—tracking and publishing data on yields, water use and emissions.

3. Governance before gadgets—embedding grievance redressal, helplines, and accountability.

4. Open ecosystems—avoiding lock-ins and enabling plug-and-play participation.

Way forward

The future of agritech in India cannot be judged by the sophistication of its tools but by the dignity it brings to the smallest farmer. Clean energy, actionable intelligence and shared precision must be woven into the everyday realities of rural life.

If we succeed in building these inclusive systems, sustainability will not remain a slogan. It will become a lived practice—visible in every acre, every season and every village that thrives not on hope alone, but on equitable access to technology.

(The author is CEO, Impact Guru Foundation (IGF))

Published on October 4, 2025