Reimagining Agriculture: A Roadmap for Frontier Technology | 06 Nov 2025

Source: PIB  

Why in News?

The NITI Aayog released the report “Reimagining Agriculture: Roadmap for Frontier Technology-Led Transformation,” highlighting how AI, IoT, drones, and biotechnology can transform Indian agriculture.  

• The roadmap proposes Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0 with three pillars — Enhance, Reimagine, and Converge — to drive technology-led agricultural transformation. 

What are the Frontier-led Technologies in Agriculture? 

• About: It encompasses advanced technologies revolutionising food, fiber, and fuel production, advancing toward an intelligent and sustainable food system through climate-resilient seeds, digital twins, and precision tools. 
• Objectives: It seeks to shift agriculture from input-intensive to innovation-driven, using digital and scientific tools to ensure food security, climate resilience, and diverse incomes for farmers.  
• Components of Frontier Technologies:

• Farmers Category: To holistically implement frontier technologies, the report divides farmers into 3 archetypes: 
  • Aspiring Farmers (70–80%): Small, rain-fed farmers needing micro-irrigation, credit, and market access. 
  • Transitioning Farmers (15–20%): Medium, entrepreneurial farmers seeking machinery, buyer linkages, and storage solutions. 
  • Advanced Farmers (1–2%): Large, export-focused farmers requiring blockchain traceability, advanced seeds, and robotics for global competitiveness. 

What are the Key Challenges to Technology-Driven Agricultural Transformation in India? 

• Data Integration and Governance Gaps: Lack of unified digital agri-infrastructure, despite initiatives like Digital Crop Survey and AgriStack, along with data privacy and farm data ownership concerns, remain key challenges. 
• Market Linkage and Financial Access: Despite e-NAM, many farmers still depend on local mandis, while limited credit access hinders smallholders’ adoption of frontier technologies. 
• Digital and Infrastructure Divide: Poor internet access, inadequate infrastructure, limited workforce, and weak digital literacy hinder the effective integration of digital tools, with only about 45% of rural households having internet access (NFHS-5). 
• Ecosystem Fragmentation: Disjointed coordination among industry, academia, policymakers, and regulators restricts collective progress and slows ecosystem-wide transformation. 
  • About 86% of Indian farmers are small and marginal, restricting mechanisation and technology adoption. 
• Talent Shortage: A lack of skilled, interdisciplinary professionals, including technicians, entrepreneurs, and tech-ready farmers, weakens the foundation for innovation and deployment of frontier technologies. 
• Capital Constraints: Limited funding for high-risk, slow-scaling AgTech innovations and restricted credit access for farmers impede investment in transformative agricultural technologies.

What Steps are Needed for the Inclusive Agri-Tech Transformation? 

• ENHANCE Foundational Systems: Develop a 360° Agri Kosh data ecosystem using data-mesh architecture for better decisions and AI-powered, multilingual last-mile advisory with two-way communication.  
  • Provide subsidies for tech-enabled farm inputs, and link DBT to digital farming adoption and yield gains. 
• REIMAGINE Research & Talent: Shift from siloed research to mission-oriented, translational R&D focused on national priorities like climate-resilient seeds. 
  • Cultivate interdisciplinary talent through a national skills framework, industry-aligned curricula, and mass entrepreneurship programs. 
  • Train 1 lakh+ Krishi Sakhis, agri-extension workers, and progressive farmers as digital champions, and embed technology literacy in agriculture curriculums. 
• CONVERGE Public-Private Efforts: Establish a national network of Frontier Technology Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to co-develop and pilot solutions. 
  • Promote pilots between start-ups, state governments, and FPOs, replicating models like Karnataka’s crop survey app and Andhra Pradesh’s digital FPOs. 
  • Institutionalise Policy Foresight Units and Regulatory Sandboxes to create agile and anticipatory governance. 

Conclusion 

NITI Aayog's roadmap envisions a tech-powered transformation of Indian agriculture to achieve Viksit Bharat 2047. By addressing systemic roadblocks through the three-pillar strategy of Enhance, Reimagine, and Converge, it aims to boost productivity, sustainability, and farmer incomes, transitioning the sector from input-intensive practices to an innovation-driven ecosystem.