The report highlights the structural barriers slowing agricultural transformation and shows how frontier technologies can directly address these gaps to drive higher productivity, resilience, and farmer incomes.
Barriers affecting Agricultural Transformation
- Data: Siloed data, no single-source of truth, lack of localized, high-quality Al-ready datasets
- Limited Phygital Approach: Limited internet access, inadequate physical infrastructure, field force and touchpoints to integrate with digital solutions
- Fragmentation: Limited coordination and siloed functioning across industry, academia, policymakers & regulatory bodies
- Capital: Gap in funding for high-risk, slow-scaling AgTech innovations, constrained credit access for farmers
Role of Frontier Technologies in Agricultural Transformation
Frontier technologies includes seed technologies, vertical farming, digital twins, precision tools and smart sensors, agentic AI, predictive analytics, and advanced mechanisation aimed at boosting productivity, sustainability, and farmer incomes.
Path ahead for scaling up of frontier technologies
- A three-pillar framework for a Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0
- Enhance foundational systems to be frontier-tech ready: by 360-degree data ecosystem, digital enablement of the last-mile interventions and upgrading the AgriTech startup accelerator ecosystem.
- Reimagine Agri-Innovations & Agri-Talent Systems for Future-readiness: by globally competitive talent & innovation ecosystems, focusing on a shift to translational R&D, interdisciplinary industry-aligned talent and revamping the institutional architecture for innovation.
- Converge public-private efforts to accelerate agricultural transformation: by building instruments for public-private dialogue to align industry and government efforts for agile policy making.
