Farmgate Making Indian Agriculture Globally Competitive

Over the past decade, India’s agricultural landscape has undergone a sweeping digital transformation, one driven not only by innovation but also by urgent necessity. As climate volatility accelerates, global supply chains strain, and the country grapples with shrinking landholdings and increasingly marginal farm economies, the sector has reached a decisive inflection point. Traditional, product-led models can no longer address the complexity or scale of today’s challenges. Consequently, agriculture is shifting toward a new paradigm, one defined by integrated platforms, breakthroughs in biotechnology, and data-driven decision systems that connect soil to market with unprecedented precision.

Against this backdrop, The Interview World spoke with Dushyant K. Tyagi, CEO of Farmgate Technologies Pvt. Ltd., during the 3rd Edition of BRAND R.Comm – Agriculture & Rural Communication Summit & Awards 2025, organized by Snail Integral Pvt. Ltd. The conversation explores how these rapid shifts are restructuring India’s agri–value chain, why platforms like Farmgate are leading a holistic, solutions-driven approach, and how the convergence of science, technology, and digital ecosystems is poised to influence farmers’ incomes, India’s competitive edge, and the nation’s future food security.

Below are the key takeaways from this compelling discussion.

Q: How has the digital landscape in agriculture evolved over the past decade?

A: One thing is certain: the challenges facing global food and agriculture are deeply shaped by climate change, geopolitical disruptions, and, in India’s case, our own structural realities. As a rapidly growing nation, we face a unique set of issues, many of which I highlighted during the panel discussion.

To begin with, landholdings will continue to shrink, further reducing average farm sizes. At the same time, we still need to build a robust, credit-driven agri–value chain. Across the world, wherever smallholders dominate, value chains fundamentally depend on accessible credit. India is no different. With 86% of our farmers categorized as marginal, creating a system that offers them reliable and easily accessible credit infrastructure remains one of our toughest challenges.

Next, agriculture’s inherent dependence on climate and other uncontrollable natural factors makes risk hedging indispensable. As a country, we must invest far more in designing and operationalizing an effective and sustainable agricultural insurance system.

A third, and particularly alarming, issue concerns productivity. Yields of many major crops have plateaued or even declined. For example, nutrient response has fallen dramatically: in the 1980s, applying 1 kg of nutrient produced about 13.5 kg of grain per hectare. Today, the same input yields barely 3 kg. This stark drop shows that our soils are steadily losing their productive capacity. In short, the crop response ratio is collapsing, and that should worry all of us.

Given this landscape, the question is: how do we move forward? Agriculture, like many other sectors in history, is standing on the cusp of an orbital shift. Just as the arrival of machinery, computers, automation, and now AI fundamentally altered previous eras, the future of agriculture will be driven almost entirely by technology, a convergence of biotechnology and electronics.

Biotechnology will enable gene editing and synthetic biology solutions that create region-specific, problem-specific, and highly localized seed varieties engineered for maximum output. We will be able to design crops whose nutrient-use efficiency multiplies several times over, potentially transforming today’s grain response ratios from 1:10 to 1:1000. Even biological processes themselves will increasingly be monitored and optimized through electronic systems.

This technological shift is also why integrated digital platforms are becoming essential. From independence until roughly 2010–2020, we tackled agricultural challenges in a fragmented, product-based manner, one product for one problem. A product to raise yield, another to extend shelf life, another to control pests. But that approach no longer suffices. To achieve exponential improvements in both yield and quality, we must transition from isolated products to holistic solutions. Without superior produce quality, India cannot compete in global export markets. And without global competitiveness, our long-term agricultural prospects will remain limited.

India must grow enough to nourish its own population, and simultaneously claim its rightful share in international markets. The only way to meet both goals is through deep, integrated, technology-driven transformation.

Q: How do you evaluate Farmgate’s growth so far?

A: Farmgate is a pioneering organization that has evolved from a legacy in plant nutrition. We originated within the Nagarjuna Group, now rebranded as Fertis, a company deeply rooted in research, technology, and crop science. Fertis operates across the entire agricultural value chain, and its core belief is simple: when plant nutrition is right, most production challenges are already solved.

As an R&D–driven and technology-focused enterprise, Fertis develops crop-specific and stage-specific nutritional solutions. Instead of treating problems in isolation, we deliver integrated solutions that support the entire crop life cycle. In other words, we have moved from being a product company to becoming a full-fledged solutions provider.

Within this larger vision, Fertis leads on plant nutrition, while Farmgate, an integral part of the group, drives the technological innovations that complement and amplify those nutrition-based solutions. Together, we bring a unified, end-to-end approach to modern agriculture.

Q: How do you assess the role of Indian startups in driving agricultural digitization?

A: eNAM gave the sector a strong early lift, but we must recognize a deeper truth: agriculture is, at its core, an integration of all fundamental sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, microbiology, and more. Yet as a vocation and as a business, it has evolved in silos over the last century. Seed, plant nutrition, and plant protection grew into separate domains, each advancing independently.

Today, that fragmented model no longer meets our needs. To unlock exponential gains in both yield and quality, these domains must converge. And this convergence is possible only through integrated platforms.

We must shift our mindset from products to solutions, and now from solutions to platforms. These platforms will not only streamline the distribution of integrated product–solution bundles but also ensure their effective delivery into plant and soil systems. In essence, platforms are the bridge that will unify agriculture’s sciences and transform its outcomes.

Q: How will digital platforms transform the lives and livelihoods of Indian farmers?

A: Farmers can improve their incomes in two fundamental ways: by reducing losses and by increasing yields. Yet even these gains mean little without strong market realization. Higher yields and better quality matter only when farmers can access markets that reward them. Therefore, nutrient management and investments in crop nutrition must align with market signals. Agriculture can no longer function as a simple “farm to fork” system; it must now operate “fork to farm,” where farmers grow with market demand in full view.

To achieve this shift, farmers need real-time visibility into micro, regional, national, and even global markets. Digital platforms make this possible. They connect products to solutions and move the entire ecosystem from traditional distribution models toward integrated, data-driven platforms. When multiple needs, input supply, advisory, market access—must be addressed simultaneously, only platforms can capture real-time data and offer comprehensive visibility across the value chain.

Consider Zomato: it is essentially a platform that gives users a 360-degree view of food available around them. Agriculture needs the same kind of transparency. Platforms like eNAM or eFarm Market already demonstrate what is possible, centralized spaces where all produce is listed, and where price movements, availability, storage, and logistics can be viewed instantly.

Platforms also solve India’s smallholder challenge. We do not need farmers to aggregate physically; we need to aggregate their needs and outputs digitally. Platforms allow farmers to pool demand for inputs, consolidate supply for markets, and access advisory services, all without leaving their farms. This digital aggregation strengthens their bargaining power both when buying and when selling, making their produce more competitive.

Right now, farmers earn less while consumers pay more. The result is suppressed consumption. India remains a carbohydrate-heavy country, and the per capita availability of nutritious foods such as apples is extremely low. Ironically, we import apples from just across the Arunachal Pradesh border while our own hill states, including Uttarakhand, face severe outmigration from rural areas.

To correct these distortions, we must grow more and grow better. Improving our soil nutrient index will increase both production and consumption of high-quality, nutritious food. As affordability rises, farmers will be encouraged to invest more in their crops. Ultimately, this will strengthen markets, boost farmer incomes, and create a healthier, more resilient agricultural ecosystem.

Q: Do you foresee similar developments occurring in the agriculture sector?

A: Look at how India has transformed in the last decade. Twenty years ago, most of us visited a bank multiple times a month; today, we may not step inside a branch even once in three months. Change has come fast—and agriculture will evolve at the same pace.

Consider another example: Tata now offers one of the industry’s best SUVs, the Sierra, at an extremely competitive price. This is possible because India benefits from scale. We can adopt advanced technologies and leverage vast data networks at costs unmatched anywhere else. The same structural advantage will inevitably flow into agriculture.

However, agriculture also carries deep sensitivities. Nearly 45% of our population depends on it, and it is directly tied to food security, making it politically and socially significant. Moreover, most agricultural regulations fall under state jurisdiction. As a result, creating policies that apply uniformly across the country, and implementing them effectively, remains a complex challenge. That is why progress in this sector often takes time. Even so, the direction is clear. The agricultural ecosystem is steadily modernizing, and the momentum toward large-scale, technology-driven reform is unmistakably strong.