SYLLABUS
GS-3: e-technology in the aid of farmers.
Context:
Recently, NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech Hub unveiled a major roadmap titled “Reimagining Agriculture: A Roadmap for Frontier Technology Led Transformation”.
Key Highlights of the Roadmap
- The roadmap, developed in collaboration with partners like BCG, Google, and CII, aims to enhance agricultural resilience, inclusive rural prosperity, and India’s global competitiveness in agri-tech innovation.
- Use of Frontier Technologies: It outlines a strategic vision to harness frontier technologies, including climate-resilient seeds, digital twins, precision agriculture, agentic AI, and advanced mechanisation to enhance productivity, sustainability, and incomes across India’s diverse agricultural landscape.
- Custom Solutions: It categorizes farmers into three groups – Aspiring, Transitioning, and Advanced, with each group receiving tailored, actionable solutions to address their unique needs.
- Roadblocks: It identifies major systemic roadblocks to scaling frontier tech in agriculture: data fragmentation, phygital (physical + digital) divide, trust deficit, talent gaps, capital and ecosystem fragmentation.
Challenges in Indian Agriculture
- Fragmented Landholdings: Small and fragmented land parcels, averaging about 1.08 hectares, limit scalability and reduce the feasibility of mechanization.
- Low Digital Literacy: Limited digital skills and socio-economic constraints restrict farmers’ ability to access and use advanced technologies.
- Infrastructure Deficiencies: Poor internet connectivity and unreliable rural electricity impede the adoption of digital and precision tools.
- High Financial Barriers: High upfront costs and limited access to affordable credit prevent smallholder farmers from investing in modern technologies.
- Regulatory and Policy Bottlenecks: Complex regulations and slow policy processes delay innovation and hamper effective public–private collaboration.
Key Recommendations
- Three Pillar Framework: The roadmap recommends an actionable three-pillar framework for a Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0 to address prevailing barriers and advance agricultural transformation.
- Enhance foundational systems (data, last-mile digital enablement),
- Reimagine innovation and talent ecosystems, and
- Converge public-private efforts and policy frameworks.
- Integrated Technology Platforms: Develop end-to-end farm management systems that integrate AI, IoT, precision tools, and climate-resilient technologies.
- Financial Support for Farmers: Expand subsidized financing, credit access, and low-interest loans to help small farmers adopt new technologies.
- Collaborative Innovation Ecosystem: Promote collaboration among government agencies, agritech startups, academic institutions, and farmer groups for scaling solutions.
- Promote shared-access models (e.g., equipment-on-demand, AgriTech Commons) to overcome small-holder constraints of scale and capital.
About NITI Frontier Tech Hub
- The NITI Frontier Tech Hub is an action tank for Viksit Bharat. It collaborates with over 100 experts across government, industry, and academia.
- It is developing 10-year thematic roadmaps spanning 20+ sectors to harness frontier technologies for transformative, inclusive growth.
- The Hub drives coordinated action today to build a prosperous, resilient, and technologically advanced India by 2047.
Sources:
News On Air
PIB