Reports & IndicesImportant2025-11-04

NITI Aayog Strategy for Frontier Tech-Led Agriculture

Q: Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding NITI Aayog's 'Reimagining Agriculture' strategy?

A) 1 only — Statement 1 is correct as the report advocates for deploying AI, digital twins, and formalising 'Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0'. Statement 2 is incorrect because the strategy promotes robotics to address institutional fragmentation and optimise resources (precision farming), not to completely eradicate manual labor within five years.

In News

What Happened

On November 4, 2025, NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub released a comprehensive roadmap titled 'Reimagining Agriculture: A Strategy for Frontier Technology-Led Transformation'. The report advocates for the integration of artificial intelligence, digital twins, IoT, and robotics into India's agricultural sector. It formalises the push for a 'Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0' to address institutional fragmentation and establish climate-resilient precision farming practices.

Why It Matters

This framework is crucial for overcoming India's agricultural data deficit and mitigating the inefficiencies caused by fragmented landholdings. By leveraging frontier technologies, the strategy aims to enhance crop yields, ensure climate resilience, and improve farmer incomes, serving as a blueprint for modernising the agrarian economy.

Background

History & Context

The push for agrarian digitalisation began systematically with the Digital Agriculture Mission (2021-2025) and the creation of the federated 'Agri-Stack' database. Previous expert panels, notably the Ashok Dalwai Committee on Doubling Farmers' Income (2018), emphasised the urgent need for technological intervention in pre- and post-harvest management. Building on these foundational digital registries, NITI Aayog's new strategy aims to upgrade India's agricultural framework into an advanced, predictive ecosystem.

What Changed

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BEFORE: Agricultural data was largely siloed across various state and central departments, resulting in a severe data deficit. NOW: The strategy mandates an integrated ecosystem under Digital Agriculture Mission 2.0 to ensure seamless data flow and predictive analytics via Agri-Stack.
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BEFORE: Crop management heavily relied on reactive measures to weather changes and traditional farming wisdom. NOW: The introduction of AI and digital twins enables precision farming, allowing virtual simulation of crop growth to optimise climate resilience.
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BEFORE: Agricultural mechanisation was mostly limited to basic, non-connected machinery like tractors and tillers. NOW: The roadmap pushes for IoT-enabled sensors and robotic farming to optimise resource application (water, fertilizers) and manage physical labor constraints.

Prelims Angle

NCERT Connection

This development applies directly to Class 12 India People and Economy Chapter 5 - Land Resources and Agriculture, which outlines the challenges of low agricultural productivity and small, fragmented landholdings. NITI Aayog's frontier tech strategy provides the modern technological solutions (precision farming and digital twins) required to overcome the structural bottlenecks described in the NCERT text.

Practice Questions

Q1

Correct Statement(s)

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding NITI Aayog's 'Reimagining Agriculture' strategy?

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