Agricultural education and training are reinforcing the farm sector transformation of India.

Nearly half of India's population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, and it accounts for 18% of the country's GDP, making it the backbone of the Indian economy.

Increasing training, research, and education has become essential to achieving sustainability and productivity in the industry. Under the concept of "Viksit Krishi aur Samruddh Kisan"—developed agriculture and affluent farmers—the nation hopes to attain a 5 percent agricultural growth rate.

The highest authority for agricultural research and education is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, or ICAR. It was founded in 1929 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare's Department of Agricultural Research and Education.

It co-ordinates research and higher education in agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences through a wide network of 113 national research institutes and 74 agricultural universities.

The farm-level technology transfer is ensured through its 731 KVKs; the academic standards for ICAR are maintained through the ICAR Model Act (Revised 2023) and institutional accreditation through the National Agricultural Education Accreditation Board.

The agricultural education scenario is vast with 63 State Agricultural Universities, three Central Agricultural Universities (Pusa, Imphal and Jhansi), four Deemed Universities (IARI-Delhi, NDRI-Karnal, IVRI-Izatnagar and CIFE-Mumbai) and four Central Universities having faculties of agriculture.

Dissemination of technology is further reinforced by eleven ATARIs, the Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes.

Contribution by the private sector has also increased within the same period, with the number of private agricultural colleges accredited by the ICAR increasing from five in 2020–21 to 22 in 2024–25, underlining the expansion of educational participation beyond the public system.

These three Central Agricultural Universities have a regional role to play.

Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar, established in 2016 by rechristening Rajendra Agricultural University, has eight constituent colleges imparting courses in eight disciplines.

Presently, it is operating 18 KVKs in Bihar and providing short-term diploma and certificate courses under the National Education Policy.

In 1993, Central Agricultural University was founded in Imphal, Manipur. Currently, seven states in the northeast make up its mandate area. With 10 undergraduate, 48 master's, and 34 doctoral programs offered by its 13 constituent colleges, the university can accept about 3,000 students in the 2024–2025 academic year. With its constituent colleges in Jhansi and Datia, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, was established in 2014 as a national center of excellence in agricultural sciences, offering multidisciplinary education and research in Agronomy, Veterinary Science, and Agricultural Engineering. IoT and AI are two examples of developing technologies that help modernize agriculture in India. Drones, climate-smart systems, precision farming, and AI-driven crop monitoring are all promoted by government efforts.  

As many as 25 Technology Innovation Hubs have been established under NM-ICPS, with specialist hubs at IIT Ropar, IIT Bombay, and IIT Kharagpur on AI and IoT for agri-tech applications. 

Further, the IoT Centres of Excellence in Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru bring together startups, academia, and investors in fostering innovation. The Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme of RKVY has been supporting agri-tech, agro-processing, AI, IoT, and value-added agriculture start-ups since 2018-19, thereby generating employment in villages and enhancing farmers' income. Farmed training and skill development remain important in transforming Indian agriculture. STRY for training of rural youth, SMAM for sub-mission on agricultural mechanization, PMKVY for Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, among various other initiatives under KVKs and ATMA, continuously build grassroots capacity. KVKs have trained over 58 lakh farmers between 2021–22 and 2023–24, with another 18.56 lakh in the first ten months of 2024–25.

 In this period from 2021 to 2025, ATMA also trained close to 1.27 crore farmers, and STRY trained over 51,000 rural youth in short-term vocational courses. Under SMAM, more than 57,000 farmers received mechanization training, and the Soil Health Card Scheme distributed over 25 crore cards, backed by 93,000 trainings and 6.8 lakh demonstrations on nutrient management. More than 10,000 FPOs have been registered across the country, which are promoting market-oriented capacity through digital training in agri-business management, value chains, and marketing. Education, innovation, and empowerment of farmers together create the foundation for the Indian government's quest to have "One Nation-One Agriculture-One Team" to bring about a Viksit Bharat through a prosperous and sustainable future of agriculture.