In 2022, Yogesh Raut, a cotton and soybean farmer from Maharashtra, found himself at a crossroads. Like many cultivators in his region, he relied on manual spraying methods that consumed both time and resources.
Hiring labourers to spray his 30-acre farmland typically cost him around Rs 1,200 per acre, while also demanding long hours of work under the sun. When a friend recommended trying robotic sprayers, Yogesh was deeply sceptical.
Farming, for him, was about hard labour and personal oversight; the thought of entrusting machines with such delicate tasks seemed implausible. Yet, curiosity prevailed. After one demonstration, he cautiously booked a session.
To his surprise, the robots completed the work at half the cost, spraying only the crops and not the soil, thereby saving pesticides and protecting the environment. “With labourers, it takes an entire day to spray the crops, but these robots completed the task within two hours,” Yogesh explains, reflecting on how technology transformed his everyday practice.
Yogesh’s story is neither isolated nor anecdotal. It is part of a broader transformation where frontier technologies — artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, drones, sensors, and biotechnology — are redefining agriculture in India. These innovations are not mere tools; they are reshaping age-old practices, reducing drudgery, optimising resources, and addressing structural challenges, such as low productivity, high input costs, and climate vulnerability.
It’s impact-driven examples like these that are at the heart of the Frontier Tech Hub Repository, which is showcasing how frontier tech innovations can meet national development priorities.
The role of frontier technologies in redefining agriculture
Stories like Yogesh’s highlight the larger structural shifts taking place in Indian agriculture, where frontier technologies are beginning to address age-old challenges of productivity, sustainability, and profitability.
Precision agriculture tools like AI-powered sprayers and IoT sensors allow farmers to use water, fertilisers, and pesticides more efficiently, cutting costs while protecting soil health and biodiversity. Real-time monitoring through drones and sensors generates continuous data, helping farmers predict crop diseases, identify nutrient deficiencies, and act before losses occur.
Technology also strengthens climate resilience, with practices like direct-seeded rice in climate-smart villages enabling adaptation to erratic rainfall and rising temperatures. Robotics and automation ease labour shortages, improving efficiency and safety in farm operations.
At the same time, integrating biofertilisers and optimising inputs lowers the ecological footprint, aligning food security with environmental priorities. Together, these innovations are moving Indian farming away from intuition-led methods toward evidence-driven decision-making.
Farmers at the cutting edge of innovation
AI-powered spot-spraying robots
Bengaluru-based Jaisimha Rao founded Niqo Robotics to launch robotic sprayers, based on AI-powered vision technology, which epitomise precision agriculture. Its cameras differentiate between plant and soil, ensuring pesticides are sprayed only where needed. By combining “see, select, spray” steps, the robot reduces pesticide use, protects soil health, and cuts operational costs.
Farmers like Yogesh, and over 500 others across Maharashtra and Karnataka, have embraced these robots, validating that technology once dismissed as futuristic can now become mainstream.
Precision farming with IoT sensors
In Tamil Nadu, Benjamin, founder of Farm Again, has taken precision farming to a new level. His work with farmers on how IoT sensors can measure soil moisture, nutrient levels, and climatic variations. Farmers, who once irrigated fields with 10 times the necessary water, drastically improved yields when guided by real-time data. Those who nearly abandoned farming doubled their coconut yield after adopting the precision monitoring system.
Here, frontier technologies not only prevented resource wastage but also restored farmers’ confidence in agriculture as a viable livelihood.
Drone-based interventions
Kerala-based startup Fuselage Innovations, founded by Devika and Devan Chandrasekharan, illustrates how drones can revolutionise farming practices. Their UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are capable of aerial plant surveys and precision spraying of fertilisers, covering up to 50 acres in a single day.
This innovation is particularly significant in disaster-affected regions like Kerala, where floods damaged fertile soil. Drones restored farmers’ ability to manage large fields efficiently, while reducing dependence on manual scouting and increasing safety in handling agrochemicals.
These stories highlight a common thread: technologies are not displacing farmers but enabling them to reimagine agriculture in cost-effective, resource-efficient, and environmentally sustainable ways.
NITI Aayog and the frontier tech ecosystem
Scaling such innovations requires strong institutional backing. NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech Hub (FTH) is at the centre of this effort. It curates case studies, policy frameworks, and scalable models, ensuring innovators and policymakers learn from real-world successes. By mapping emerging technologies, catalysing adoption, and aligning stakeholders, the Hub ensures frontier tech becomes part of India’s development priorities.
In agriculture, NITI Aayog positions frontier technologies as levers to double farmers’ incomes, build climate resilience, and diversify beyond cereal-centric farming. Its alignment with Viksit Bharat 2047 underscores the role of innovation in India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by its centenary of independence.
Challenges in scaling frontier agriculture
While frontier technologies offer immense promise, their adoption comes with significant challenges. For instance, affordability remains a key barrier, as the high cost of equipment limits access for smallholder farmers, with rental services offering only partial relief.
Moreover, capacity building is equally critical, since farmers need both training and trust in these tools, a fact reflected in Yogesh’s initial scepticism. Policy and regulation also play a decisive role; clear frameworks on biofertilisers, gene editing, and intellectual property rights are necessary to guide safe and fair use.
Other than these, infrastructure gaps further slow progress, as reliable electricity, internet connectivity, and 5G are prerequisites for AI and IoT-based solutions to function effectively. Finally, equity concerns must be addressed to ensure that small and marginal farmers share in the benefits, rather than allowing advanced technologies to primarily serve large landholders.
Accounting for these challenges can put frontier technologies at the heart of redefining agriculture. From climate-resilient varieties bred through genomics to smart irrigation enabled by IoT, these tools extend the farmer’s decision-making power. Paired with supportive policies and public–private partnerships, they can address challenges from pest outbreaks to post-harvest losses.
For a country where over 40 percent of the workforce depends on agriculture, this transition from subsistence to knowledge-driven, entrepreneurial farming is vital for inclusive growth. From AI-powered sprayers in Maharashtra to drones in Kerala and IoT irrigation in Tamil Nadu, frontier technologies are already reshaping India’s fields.
If scaled thoughtfully, they can transform agriculture into a model of climate-smart, resource-efficient growth. By 2047, India’s farmlands may stand as living proof of how innovation redefined not just agriculture, but the nation’s future.
To understand how AI, robotics, and other frontier technologies are transforming agriculture, visit https://frontiertech.niti.gov.in/.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
Source:
‘National Dialogue Indian Agriculture Towards 2030 Pathways for Enhancing Farmers’ Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food Systems’: by Dr R B Singh, Dr R S Paroda and Dr Malavika Dadlani.
‘Frontier Technologies for Crop Improvement’: by Manish K. Pandey, Alison Bentley, Haile Desmae, Manish Roorkiwal, and Rajeev K. Varshney