Rewriting India’s farm story: A decade of Transformation

By Desk Editor Last updated Oct 25, 2026

Shivraj Singh Chouhan

The Green Revolution secured India’s food future. The next agricultural transformation must secure India’s prosperity, nutrition, natural resources and global leadership. The Honorable Prime Minister has given the nation a clear direction: Indian agriculture must become an important pillar of Viksit Bharat. Our task is to turn that vision into action through science, innovation, infrastructure, markets, institutions and, above all, by placing the Indian farmer at the centre of every agricultural policy.

When the Honorable Prime Minister assumed office in 2014, agriculture and farmer welfare were placed at the heart of India’s development agenda. Since 2015, this commitment has increasingly translated into a broader transformation from improving production and farm incomes to building an agriculture sector that is productive, resilient, technology-driven and sustainable.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasised that “For a Viksit Bharat, Indian agriculture must also be developed.” He has also called for India not merely to meet its own food requirements but to emerge as a global food supplier. Adding to Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” and Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s “Jai Vigyan”, the Prime Minister gave the nation “Jai Anusandhan”.

With that phrase he placed research and innovation at the heart of India’s farm future. Those words were more than a statement of policy direction; they embodied a pragmatic vision whose wisdom and foresight were unmistakably vindicated by the evidence that emerged a decade later.

From Food Security to a New Agricultural Paradigm

This vision represents a decisive shift in the way we must look at Indian agriculture. The Green Revolution gave India food security. Today, our responsibility is to build the foundations of nutritional security, farmer prosperity, resource security and global competitiveness. India’s agricultural journey is one of remarkable achievements. From a country once dependent on food imports, India became self-sufficient in staple cereals within a few decades.

The Green Revolution was powered by science, improved seeds, irrigation, infrastructure, institutional credit, extension and policy support. It demonstrated what can happen when scientific capability and political commitment converge around a national objective.

But agriculture cannot remain frozen in the priorities of the past. The aspirations of our farmers have changed, the consumption patterns of our citizens have changed, markets have changed and the climate itself is changing.

A Decade of Broad-Based Agricultural Growth

The transformation underway since 2015 is therefore significant. The years 1995–96 and 2014–15 have been marked as structural breakpoints because they mark distinct phases in the evolution of Indian agriculture. The first reflects the gradual impact of economic liberalisation, greater market integration, changing consumption patterns and the slowdown in cereal productivity growth, while the second marks the emergence of a more diversified, technology-enabled and resilience-oriented agricultural system driven by irrigation expansion, digital platforms, market reforms and increasing focus on sustainability and climate adaptation.

Agricultural growth, which averaged about 2.7 per cent during 1967–1995 and about 3.0 per cent during 1996–2014, accelerated to around 4.5 per cent during 2015–2025 (Food grains at 8.4MT/annum, Fruits and Vegetables at 7.6MT/annum and Milk at Mt/annum). The last two years have witnessed an exceptional increase in food grain production, with the increase recorded at 22.1MT per annum, significantly higher than that observed during the preceding years.

This achievement reflects the combined impact of stronger Centre–State coordination, effective convergence of programmes, adoption of climate-resilient technologies, focused investments, and enhanced support to farmers. More importantly, this growth has become broader, drawing strength not only from cereals but also from horticulture, dairy, fisheries, poultry and other high-value activities. This is the agriculture that will power the next phase of India’s development.

Our objective must no longer be defined simply as producing more. We must produce more with lessless water, less land, less energy and fewer avoidable inputs while producing better quality, safer and more nutritious food. The transformation in Indian consumption itself provides a powerful signal.

In rural India, cereals accounted for about 57 per cent of food expenditure in 1972–73; by 2022–23, this had fallen to around 11 per cent. At the same time, the share of milk and milk products, fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat and fish rose from about 20 per cent to nearly 48 per cent. Urban consumption has followed a similar trajectory.

Our farms must respond to this new India.This means greater emphasis on pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, dairy, fisheries, poultry and other high-value commodities. It means moving from a narrow concept of food security towards nutrition security.

It means enabling farmers to participate in value chains where the real economic opportunity increasingly lies in grading, processing, packaging, branding, logistics and exports.

Building the Architecture for Farmer-Centric Growth

The Government of India has already created an important architecture for this transition. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana promotes efficient water use. The Soil Health Card initiative has placed soil testing and balanced nutrient management at the centre of farm decision making.

PM-KUSUM is linking agriculture with renewable energy. Farmer Producer Organisations are strengthening aggregation and bargaining power. e-NAM is connecting agricultural markets digitally, while the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana and PMFME are strengthening post-harvest infrastructure and processing.

These initiatives must now converge into a single farmer-centric value chain from seed to soil, farm to market and laboratory to livelihood.Technology will be central to this transformation. Indian agricultural research has already moved beyond the traditional objective of simply increasing yields.

Between 2014 and 2025, 3,236 crop varieties were released, compared with 1,540 during 2003–2014. A large proportion of recent varieties have been designed with climate resilience in mind, while biofortification is receiving greater attention.

The next agricultural revolution must therefore be a revolution of precision, resilience and knowledge.Artificial intelligence, remote sensing, drones, genomics, biotechnology, digital advisory systems and geospatial technologies can help farmers make better decisions about sowing, irrigation, nutrients, pests, weather and markets.

Digital Agriculture initiatives, AgriStack and AI-enabled advisory platforms can make agricultural services more targeted and accessible. But technology will deliver results only when it reaches the farmer in a simple, affordable and locally relevant form.

From Laboratory to Last Mile

The role of research and extension is consequently becoming even more important. Every rupee invested in agricultural research generates substantial economic returns, while extension converts scientific knowledge into practical improvements on farms.

We must strengthen the connection between our laboratories, universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, startups, private innovators and farmers.

At the same time, we must confront the resource challenge.India cannot indefinitely expand agricultural production by expanding the use of water, fertiliser, energy and land. Groundwater depletion, soil degradation, climate variability and extreme weather events demand a new production paradigm.

The evidence shows that the recent phase of agricultural growth has combined higher productivity with greater stability, reflecting the growing importance of diversification, resource efficiency, risk management and climate resilience. This is why sustainability is not an environmental luxury; it is an economic necessity for the farmer.

Our policies must encourage efficient use of every unit of water, nutrients and energy. Research should prioritise climate-resilient varieties, water- and nutrient-efficient crops, improved soil biology, integrated pest management, conservation agriculture and precision farming. Pulses and oilseeds deserve particular attention because increasing their productivity is essential for strengthening India’s nutritional and economic self-reliance.

Efficient Markets and global value chains

A farmer who produces efficiently must also be able to sell profitably. Agricultural markets, storage, cold chains, logistics, grading, processing and digital platforms must grow alongside production. The expansion of agricultural output and diversification into perishable commodities have created new requirements for efficient aggregation and market connectivity.

Farmer collectives, cooperatives and FPOs can play a transformative role by reducing transaction costs, improving bargaining power and enabling farmers to participate in organised value chains.India must increasingly look beyond the mandi to the marketplace of the world.

Our ambition should be to develop Indian agricultural products with globally recognised quality, traceability, safety and branding. The next phase must connect farmers not merely with domestic consumers but with international value chains. This will create employment, encourage rural entrepreneurship and enable a greater share of the value generated by agriculture to remain in rural India.But this transformation cannot be delivered by the Union Government alone.

Agriculture is a shared national responsibility. States, local governments, research institutions, FPOs, cooperatives, private enterprises, financial institutions and civil society must work together. The future requires convergence across agriculture, water, energy, food processing, nutrition, climate, trade and rural development.

This is also where the spirit of cooperative federalism becomes critical. India’s agro-ecological diversity demands solutions that are local in implementation but national in vision.The journey from Viksit Krishi to Viksit Bharat will ultimately be measured not merely by tonnes produced, but by the quality of life of our farmers. A prosperous farmer is the foundation of a prosperous rural economy.

A resilient farm is the foundation of resilient food systems. And a competitive agricultural value chain is the foundation of a globally competitive Bharat.We therefore need to move confidently from the paradigm of “how much can we produce?” to “how efficiently, sustainably and profitably can we produce?”

The Green Revolution secured India’s food future. The next agricultural transformation must secure India’s prosperity, nutrition, natural resources and global leadership. The Honorable Prime Minister has given the nation a clear direction: Indian agriculture must become an important pillar of Viksit Bharat. Our task is to turn that vision into action through science, innovation, infrastructure, markets, institutions and, above all, by placing the Indian farmer at the centre of every agricultural policy.

As we move towards Viksit Bharat 2047, the farmer must not merely be a beneficiary of development. The farmer must be an architect of India’s developed future.That is the agricultural transformation India must now pursue and that is the foundation on which the India of 2047 will stand.

(Author is Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, and Rural Development, Government of India. Views are personal)