India’s Next Agricultural Revolution to Be AI-Driven: Jitendra Singh

• AI positioned as central pillar of India’s next farm revolution
• ₹70,000 crore annual value possible through AI-enabled advisories
• National Agri-AI Research Network and Data Commons framework proposed
• BharatGen’s “Agri Param” model to support farmers in 22 Indian languages

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 23rd Feb: India’s next agricultural revolution will be powered by artificial intelligence, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Jitendra Singh said on Sunday, calling AI the central pillar of future farm policy, research and investment architecture.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Global Conference on AI in Agriculture and Investor Summit (AI4Agri 2026) in Mumbai, the Minister said AI offers scalable solutions to structural challenges that have long constrained agricultural productivity, including erratic weather, information gaps and fragmented markets.

“What AI offers is not a new diagnosis. It offers, finally, a prescription that can scale,” he said, adding that even a 10 per cent productivity gain for farmers across the Global South could represent one of the largest poverty-reduction opportunities of the century.

₹70,000 Crore Value Potential
Highlighting the economic potential, Dr. Singh said that India’s 140 million farm holdings—most of them small and marginal—could together generate an estimated ₹70,000 crore in annual value. He noted that if each farmer saves even ₹5,000 annually through AI-enabled advisories on input timing, pest prediction and market linkages, the cumulative impact would be transformative.

Framing agriculture as a strategic growth sector, he linked the AI push to the ₹10,372-crore India AI Mission, aimed at building sovereign compute capacity, datasets and startup ecosystems.

He referred to BharatGen, India’s government-owned large language model ecosystem, which has launched “Agri Param,” a domain-specific agriculture AI model functioning in 22 Indian languages. “This is AI that speaks to a farmer in Marathi, Bhojpuri or Kannada,” he said, underscoring the importance of linguistic inclusion.

National Agri-AI Research Network
The Minister announced plans for a National Agri-AI Research Network, bringing together the Department of Science and Technology, state governments, ICAR, ICRISAT and global institutions to build India-specific foundational datasets on crops, soil and climate.

He also called for the development of a federated Agri Data Commons, expanding state-level platforms such as Maharashtra’s MahaAgri-AI Policy 2025–29 into a national digital framework.

The Department of Science and Technology is supporting an open India AI Open Stack to ensure interoperability of agri-AI solutions, while the Anusandhan National Research Foundation is funding deep-tech collaborations involving IITs, IISc and ICAR.

Technology Integration in Farming
Dr. Singh highlighted the use of drone and satellite mapping to strengthen Soil Health Cards and the Swamitva Mission through verified land and soil data. He also noted integration of AI with climate intelligence systems to provide early warning support, enabling farmers to “plan, not panic.”

The Union Budget 2026–27 has proposed ‘Bharat-VISTAAR,’ a multilingual AI tool integrating AgriStack portals and ICAR practices to provide customised advisories and reduce farm risk, he added.

Calling agri-AI the “largest untapped productivity market in the world,” the Minister urged investors to back scalable platforms rather than isolated pilots. “The farmer does not need AI simply for the sake of it. He needs it to be useful. Let that be our compass,” he said.

Dr. Singh concluded by reiterating India’s intent to act as a co-architect of global agri-AI frameworks, positioning the country at the forefront of technology-driven agricultural transformation.