Agriculture

Food is essential. It's true that our eating habits can change, but feeding the body will always require energy, and energy comes from food. At the most fundamental level, agriculture is an amazing natural biological cycle: plants take in carbon dioxide and, by photosynthesis, produce the food we need while also releasing oxygen into the air.

However, feeding a population as large as Indias cannot be solved by a simple ecological equation. It is a complex technological, economic, and governance challenge. A challenge, which in fact, now requires systemic rethinking.

Invisible cost of high input agriculture

In order to ensure food security, India has stepped up agriculture through the use of irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery. The results of these interventions have been such dramatic leaps in productivity. However, if we take a complete audit, we have to admit the costs as well. Today, in an epoch of multiple crises, food production systems are turning out to be very energy intensive, water, a limited natural resource, is extensively pumped, in many cases, from overexploited aquifers. Farming patterns are not always compatible with nature: e.g., is Punjab really the right place for water, guzzling paddy, or Maharashtra, for sugarcane?

At the same time, ensuring affordable food remains a legitimate and sensitive priority for both farmers and the Indian Government. Subsidies have played an important role in safeguarding food security. But distortions have emerged. Nearly 90 per cent of the cost of urea is subsidised. Predictably, overuse follows. The greening of crops is often mistaken for higher productivity, though that is not always the case. Excess nitrogen degrades soil health, reduces long-term efficiency and contributes to environmental pollution.

Restoring soil health

Encouragingly, initiatives such as the Soil Health Card Scheme represent an important shift. Instead of prescribing generic inputs, they focus on the specific condition of the soil and recommend appropriate amendments. Similarly, the PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) incentivises States to reduce excessive chemical fertilizer use.

Soils are living systems. When crops grow, they do not merely synthesise carbohydrates; they draw minerals and micronutrients from the soil. If biomass is removed year after year without restoring balance, depletion is inevitable. Fertilizer application then becomes a compulsion rather than a calibrated intervention. Ecological security demands that we restore this balance.

Circular agriculture at the village level

Agriculture must shift from a linear to a circular model. Crop residue, instead of being burned, can be used for biogas production. The slurry from biogas plants, rich in nutrients, can be returned to the soil. If nutrient loops are closed locally, we create a circular economy at the village level, thereby generating clean energy while restoring soil fertility.Such decentralised approaches reduce waste, emissions and transportation costs. They also enhance local resilience, which is a critical requirement in an era of climate uncertainty.

Rethinking fertilizer efficiency

Next, conventional fertilizer application methods are inherently inefficient. Water-use efficiency in many systems is below 30 per cent, implying that nearly 70 per cent of applied nutrients are lost. But "loss" in this context means pollution. Nitrous oxide emissions contribute to climate change, while nutrient runoff contaminates groundwater.

Precision agriculture offers improvements, yet inefficiencies remain. Emerging solutions such as nano-fertilizers, designed for targeted delivery and higher absorption, show promise. If nutrient uptake approaches near-total efficiency, fertilizer demand declines and emissions are reduced correspondingly. Technology must now be aligned with ecological outcomes.Science must lead climate resilience

India will be significantly affected by climate change if we persist with business-as-usual crop varieties. Yet, we are not without scientific foundations. For decades, institutions such as the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) research centres worldwide - including Bioversity International, now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical- International Center for Tropical Agriculture) - have conserved extensive germplasm collections. Within these repositories lie genes that confer tolerance to heat, drought, flooding and other climate stresses.

Assuming that we have saved this biodiversity, the next question is what to do with it. One way is to embed stress, tolerant traits in new varieties, combining the traditional breeding methods, advanced genomic tool such as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), based editing and other, if necessary, modern technologies to improve resistance, nutrient, use efficiency, and other such desirable characteristics. National programmes like National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) serve as a launching pad for such research to move forward quickly. There's no cause for anxiety here. Science indeed provides answers; it is just guidance that is lacking.

Tackling post, harvest losses

Between the time a crop is harvested and when it is consumed, as much as 35 per cent of it could be lost. If such losses were stopped, it would be the same as food availability being increased by the same proportion i.e. without the need to bring more land under cultivation.

Earlier, limited access to energy constrained on-site storage and processing. Today, renewable energy changes that equation. Decentralised cold storage systems powered by solar energy, supported by financing mechanisms such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, can operate at the village level. Refrigerated transport can reduce transit losses. Whatever we produce must be utilised efficiently.

Solar as a 'second crop'

Questions are often raised about the land availability for solar power. However, agriculture itself is a source of innovative solutions. Under schemes like PM, KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evamUtthaanMahabhiyan), the farmers are being facilitated to install solar pumps and grid connected systems.

The frontier ahead is agro, photovoltaics, installing solar panels at heights that are most efficient and choosing crop varieties that will not lead to yield reduction. Food production is not necessarily a trade off. Rather, solar energy could be a dependable secondary source of income.

In bad weather, crops can fail but solar energy will not. By such diversification of income, agrarian distress can be alleviated to a great extent.

From food security to ecological security

The transition from food security to ecological security does not mean sacrificing productivity. It means producing intelligently, i.e., using resources efficiently, restoring soils, having resilient crops, lowering emissions and having diversified farmer incomes. This implies that subsidy programs must be in harmony with sustainability; also, research activities should be changed to focus only on climate adaptation; furthermore, circular bio, economies must be strengthened and additionally, renewable energy should be integrated in all stages of the value chain.

Such changes, in vision, voices and values, will be in the limelight of the debates at the next Silver Jubilee Edition of TERI's World Sustainable Development Summit. Agriculture, ecological security and climate resilience will be among the topics of the discussions along with other sustainability issues such as energy transitions, biodiversity conservation, and equitable development. It is not only imperative that we place ecological thinking at the center of our development model but also, this is the only way that we can secure our food systems and natural capital for future generations.

UPL, an agro, chemical company, announced on Friday that it will combine its Indian and international crop protection businesses to one entity, as the company aims at creating a focused pure play platform for this business's growth worldwide, and at the same time, simplifying the group structure.

According to a regulatory filing, UPL revealed that its board has given the green light to a combined scheme of arrangement between the company itself, UPL Sustainable Agri Solutions Ltd (UPL SAS), UPL Global Sustainable Agri Solutions Ltd (UPL 2), UPL Crop Protection Holdings Ltd (UPL Cayman) and their respective shareholders.

The proposed scheme plans to merge India crop protection business currently with UPL SAS and the global crop protection business currently with UPL Cayman, in one single entity, thus, the creation of a focussed, pure, play crop protection platform, UPL stated, further explaining that the scheme will simplify the group's structure and unlock shareholders' value.

As per the scheme, UPL SAS will be merged with the UPL in the first step.

Then, demerger of the demerged undertaking relating to the India Crop Protection Business from UPL to UPL 2. Lastly, there would be amalgamation of UPL Cayman with and into UPL 2.

The UPL 2 will be listed on the Indian stock exchanges. The process is expected to be completed in the next 12-18 months.

UPL has approved the “integration of the India-specific crop protection business and the international crop protection business into UPL 2 resulting in a single, unified platform for the crop protection business operating at the global level.” This integrated business will benefit from a strong manufacturing base, advanced research capabilities, a broad portfolio of registered products and brands across multiple geographies and independent management, UPL said.

After completion of the steps contemplated in the scheme, there would be two listed companies in the UPL Group.

UPL Ltd will continue to be listed and operate as a diversified platform encompassing agro and specialty chemical businesses, while also incubating and developing new businesses and verticals. The dedicated crop protection platform UPL 2 will be listed.

On the rationale of this scheme, UPL said that “this will enable clearer value discovery by providing flexibility to the investors to select investments which best suit their investment strategies and risk profile.” The scheme will allow the UPL and UPL 2 to raise capital independently, allowing each entity to optimise its capital structure and pursue business opportunities more efficiently and effectively, it added

Agriculture sits at the complex intersection of India’s Viksit Bharat aspirations and its net-zero ambition. As the backbone of the rural economy, the sector supports 46 per cent of the workforce, ensures national food security and contributes about 14 per cent to Gross Value Added (GVA).

A NITI Aayog report, however, warned that this foundational role — characterised by the dominance of small and marginal farmers — is increasingly threatened by climate change, soil degradation and acute water stress.

The report, among other things, revealed that farming is responsible for almost 14% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in India. Methane and nitrous oxide from both livestock and soils are the main drivers. It said that climate change mitigation in the agriculture sector is a must, have for the implementation of the Viksit Bharat concept.

It described the methods for reducing emissions and simultaneously ensuring the availability of sufficient food, safeguarding farmers income and meeting climate goals, and it further elaborated on the extent that various changes in crops, livestock, and farming systems would be required.

Changing the diet from rice, which requires a lot of water and energy, to millets that are more tolerant to climate changes not only helps to lower the emissions but also the adaption capacity is improved. This could be supported by behaviour-change initiatives such as the Eat Right Movement and the National Millet Mission (NMM),” the report stated.

The government’s think tank further noted that for such transitions to scale without compromising farmer incomes or food and nutritional security, the state must deploy “phased”, “spatially targeted” and “socio-economically differentiated” roadmaps, particularly for expanding natural and chemical-free farming interventions.

“Consequently, agriculture in India cannot be approached through a narrow mitigation-centric lens. The priority is safeguarding productivity, farmers’ incomes and food and nutritional security. This will require a focus on measures that build resilience to climate change,” it said.

Economist Akash Jindal has noted that crop diversification might be a very important strategy, where farmers abandon monoculture systems of rice, wheat, or sugarcane, and move to high value crops such as horticulture and oilseeds or nutri, cereals as a climate adaptation measure.

"The switch can definitely raise farm incomes by lowering risk and elevating the value of each hectare, plus it can also improve nutritional security, " he said. It yields mitigation co-benefits as greenhouse gas emissions per hectare decline when farmers move from input-intensive monocultures to more diversified cropping systems,” he said.

The report also highlighted the role of Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) in generating data-driven insights for decision-making and navigating the complex interdependencies between climate, agriculture and socio-economic systems.

“For example, dietary shifts towards healthier diets could reduce India’s emissions by 60 per cent compared to the baseline. A robust IAM assessment, calibrated to India’s national context, can integrate supply-side interventions with demand-side dynamics, while quantifying trade-offs such as land-use competition between food security, afforestation goals and the needs of other land-dependent sectors,” it underlined.

Scaling natural farming in rain-fed areas for more equitable and sustainable agricultural growth was another key recommendation in the report as India moves closer to its net-zero goal.

Rain-fed agriculture covers 51 per cent of the country’s net sown area and contributes 40 per cent of food production. It is characterised by low productivity, low input use and monsoon-dependent yield volatility.

These regions face acute climate risks while supporting 81 per cent of the rural poor, including marginal, tribal and smallholder farmers.

Natural farming was highlighted as a low, risk, high, reward option for these locations in the report.

Adopting such methods could lead to better productivity, increased yields and profitability, as well as getting healthier and more nutritious diets since most farmers eat what they grow.

Besides that, it helps in stabilizing and making rain fed farming systems more resilient by restoring the soil and encouraging the use of climate resilient practices.

According to the report, the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) gives priority to the rain fed areas for the scale up.

While India is the epicenter of international deliberations on what will be the impact of Artificial Intelligence globally, Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (RPCAU), through different media, has informed about the endeavors made to be at the forefront of digital agriculture in Bihar with the integration of AI, drones and other cutting, edge technologies in farming.

The university Vice Chancellor, P.S. Pandey said that the university is acting as a torch bearer in the transition from the use of traditional farming methods to data, based precision agriculture through the implementation of their Fasal IoT, SaaS platform. The initiative has helped convert Kothiya village in Samastipur district into a model for digital agriculture.

“The platform enables farmers to move away from instinct-based decisions and adopt scientific, real-time data monitoring,” Pandey said. The Fasal system gives farmers information on soil moisture and temperature along with hyper, local weather forecasts, which helps them decide when to irrigate and other crop management activities.

As per the university, the platform includes features like precision irrigation, automated fertigation, early pest and disease warning and AI, based crop monitoring. Farmers from Kothiya and surrounding areas are adopting smartphone, operated drip irrigation and IoT sensors to raise efficiency and output.

Pandey claimed the impact has been substantial. Farmers participating in the programme have noticed crop yields going up by 30 to 40 per cent besides significantly lowering the costs of inputs. The technology has further facilitated the cultivation management of prized crops like litchi, maize and turmeric.

RPCAU's extension services have been instrumental in farmer training and adoption of digital tool facilitation, thus helping to connect the dots between research in the lab and implementation in the fields. We concentrate on equipping farmers with technology that enables them to make knowledgeable, data, supported decisions, Pandey stated.

The VC further remarked that following better productivity and quality control, some farmers have claimed annual turnovers of 34 crore. Besides yield improvement, the initiative has also led to more efficient use of resources, especially water and fertiliser.

RPCAU is keen on growing its digital agriculture activities and the university is hopeful that the model can bring about a change in the way farming is done not only in Bihar but throughout India by allowing AI, based agriculture to be more reachable to small and medium farmers.

Polished white rice may soon get a healthy makeover, as CSIR–NIIST’s designer rice aims to transform a household staple into a protein- and micronutrient-rich food while reducing its glycaemic impact.

The CSIR–National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR–NIIST) is set to hold a technology transfer ceremony, “CSIR–NIIST Tech Connect: From Lab to Market,” on February 18 at Anusandhan Bhawan, CSIR headquarters, New Delhi, an official release said.

The event will formalise the transfer of several indigenously developed technologies to industry partners.

The ceremony will include the release and transfer of a low glycaemic index (GI), protein- and micronutrient-enriched designer rice. CSIR–NIIST said the rice is intended to provide higher protein, a lower glycaemic response, and added nutrients such as iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12. The technology will be licensed to Tata Consumer Products Ltd and SS Soul Foods, Tamil Nadu. Dr C Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIR–NIIST, received the Tata Transformation Prize 2024 for developing the rice, reported news agency PTI.

Other technologies to be transferred include a coffee crema technology that supports stable foam formation, and a bio-based cardanol polyol modified polyurethane dispersion for leather finishing and metallic coatings.

Post-harvest technologies, including osmotic dehydrated fruit bites and a ready-to-cook vegetable mix developed using Refrigerated Adsorption Dehumidified Dryer (RADD) technology, will also be part of the transfer. CSIR–NIIST said these innovations help retain nutrients and extend shelf life.

The institute will also showcase JAIVAM, an engineered microbiome for rapid aerobic composting, two plant-based leather alternatives made from agricultural biomass, and a project MoU for low-sodium salt formulations designed to reduce sodium content by up to 86 per cent while maintaining taste, the release added, news agency PTI reported.

India proudly celebrates its Green Revolution — a transformation that turned a food-deficit nation into a food-secure powerhouse. Between 1961 and 2025, the country increased foodgrain production by nearly 300%, even though the net-sown area grew by only about 38%. Science, policy support, extension networks, financing, logistics and collective national resolve made the impossible possible for a population that nearly tripled.

India’s performance in producing wood and other tree-based products is the opposite. We are one of the largest importers of wood and wood-based finished products—$ 6.8 billion in 2023 and projected to rise at 15% per annum. A deeply concerning prospect for a country of our size, needs and ability. As importers of wood, we only enrich other countries at the cost of our farmers, while our wood-based industrial sector continues to be stuck in a low-scale trap. When we outsource wood production to other countries, we also surrender the co-benefits (jobs, water, soil, habitat, carbon) a growing tree delivers.

With its geographical and climatic profile India should be a net (and big!) exporter of wood and wood-based products. But for that we need to get our act together. India needs to urgently formulate and launch its response to reverse this situation. The fact that trees in agricultural landscapes are now seen as a key to safeguarding the robustness of agri-food systems from climate change is a golden opportunity. The bridge we need to build rests on eight strategic pillars.

Intensive and targeted R&D: 

Quality of planting stock is key to the growth rate, form and quality of tree products. Unlike agriculture, where we launched a ‘no stone left unturned’ initiative to enhance yields of primary agricultural crops, trees have been largely ignored, sporadic industry driven efforts for a handful of species notwithstanding. Yields per hectare of pulp and timber species in India is less than half of what other countries with comparable conditions achieve. India needs to invest in a focused, sustained and credible national tree yield improvement program for commonly planted tree species anchored by credible research institutions under rigorous supervision to ensure quality standards are maintained and to ensure supply chain integrity.

Better managed and equipped tree nurseries:

 The nursery sector in India is largely unregulated resulting in a great deal of sub-optimalisation at all levels. Quality of planting material is only one side of the coin. Tree nurseries – their operational integrity and commitment to species specific standardised quality norms is the other. It is time to roll out an integrated National Nursery Rating and Planting Material Accreditation System to enable the tree nursery sector to catch up with international best practices and spearhead the transformational change India so sorely needs in this sector. The work done by ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi can be an excellent starting point in this direction.

Robust extension and outreach: 

The current agriculture extension system, front-ended by KrishiVigyan Kendras (KVKs), does not consider tree crops as a part of its syllabus and this needs to change. There are inherent efficiencies as the target audiences in each geography for tree crops is largely the same as for other agricultural crops. Given the KVK infrastructure and farmers’ use of it, the next step of expanding their remit to include tree crops can be done rather easily. A large body of tree farming related extension materials are already available to meet extension and training needs relevant to tree farming.

Marketing infrastructure: 

Unlike perennials, trees allow great flexibility regarding time of harvesting. This makes knowledge of past and future trends in demand, supply and prices critical to optimise returns from tree farming. However, the market intelligence and analysis available to tree growers to make informed decisions about liquidating standing trees is grossly inadequate. Easily accessible on-line trading and price discovery platforms that enable a tree grower to make evidence-based planting and harvesting decisions are a need of the hour. Software tools to serve this need are already available but lack ownership at the appropriate levels for their rapid activation and adoption.

Finance and insurance products:

Access to institutional credit and crop insurance complements working capital, eases liquidity, and de-risks the farming activity to a certain extent. Outstanding advances to agriculture sector reached an all-time high of ₹25.10 lakh crore in 2023-24. However, the share of tree farming in this amount is less than a pittance. For tree farming to achieve the same success as agriculture, credit and insurance products for tree farming need to be integrated within existing channels for servicing agriculture credit needs. The idea of considering “agroforestry model/system” as the unit for financial/insurance products rather than agricultural crops and tree crops separately. All agro-climatic zones have distinct and well documented agro-forestry models/systems which can serve as a starting point.

Enhanced localised value addition: 

Almost all the post-harvest value addition to tree produce takes place outside the farming ecosystem. Promoting the development of rural SMEs focused on tree and wood products can enhance rural incomes, upskill farming communities and provide new opportunities. For the timber and wood sector for instance, a host of post-harvest value addition activities (like peeling, pulping, seasoning, chipping, and briquetting) require simple machinery and can be easily integrated with secondary processing. For decentralized manufacturing and entrepreneurship to take off institutional mechanisms for incubation of hyper-local tree-based entrepreneurship are already available but need to be scaled up.

Supportive EXIM and taxation policy: 

EXIM policy in India is not adequately reflective of the need to nurture India’s wood production ecosystem. India has traditionally kept tariffs low on log imports (25%) relative to processed wood products (lumber – 31% and veneers – 31%) to shift value-addition to India. Low tariffs on imported wood impacts the viability of homegrown wood adversely impacting tree farming on Indian soil. As our timber production on farms increases, so must our discouragement of imports. Farm grown wood is subjected to 18% GST against 0-5% on other agricultural produce. This not only reduces competitiveness but also drives a substantial part of wood trade into the informal domain.

Ease of business:

 It is a fact that, except for a few fast-growing species, it is extremely difficult to harvest a tree at time of maturity or need. Rationalizing the regulatory framework, a colonial relic as it stands, for harvesting and transporting wood and other tree products is a low-hanging fruit for the governments to encourage landowners, individuals or institutions; to utilise the land they own for tree planting, wherever there is an opportunity. Slicing the strangulating red tape around harvesting and transporting timber will result in an audible sigh of relief across the country! Procedures and rules regarding tree-felling and transit recently notified in Assam are an example that can be emulated by other states.

India has everything it needs for a robust and decentralised tree-based manufacturing ecosystem. This includes demand, climate, land, technological know-how and labour and, most importantly, a farming economy screaming for diversification. What is required is recognition at the upper echelons of decision making of the fact that a growing tree yields not only wood at the time of harvest, it also renders hugely significant environmental and ecological benefits while it grows. We need a “whole of nation” approach, like the one that underpinned the first green revolution. If we do for trees, what we did in the 1960's for cereals, we can not only make India a wood production powerhouse of Asia while securing our social, environmental and economic interests.