India stands at a crossroads in how it engages its farmers, especially as technology increasingly dominates the national discourse. Yet beyond the noise of apps, devices, and digital dashboards, real progress still begins with listening and reading the pulse of farmers, understanding their soil, and building trust one field at a time. Traditional industry practices no longer suffice; they simply cannot offer farmers a grounded pathway to resilience, affordability, and meaningful impact. True agricultural leadership demands confronting farmers’ real challenges and creating solutions that strengthen their ability to manage risks, improve yields, and enhance their incomes.
Against this backdrop, The Interview World sat down with Sahil Malik, Founder and MD of Kisan Agrovet, at the 3rd Edition of BRAND R.Comm – Agriculture & Rural Communication Summit & Awards 2025, organized by Snail Integral Pvt. Ltd. In this wide-ranging conversation, Sahil shared how communication in rural and farming communities is evolving, explained what farmers need to build greater crop resilience, identified the major gaps that still hinder income growth and yield improvement, and outlined the key initiatives he is driving to scale his business.
Here are the essential insights from that compelling discussion.
Q: How do you think communication in rural and farming communities is changing these days?
A: When we talk about rural communication, we often focus on the rapid rise of AI, IoT devices, and app-based platforms. Many companies now attempt to reach farmers through these technologies. However, in my experience, farmers ultimately need a grounded human connection. They trust what they can see, touch, and experience, and only then do they adopt a new practice or product.
Although these companies may report impressive numbers, their actual reach to individual farmers remains limited. The reason is simple: farmers want tangible proof. They want to witness the results of a product or solution firsthand. Only after they observe real outcomes will they decide to use it.
I want to add another point here. As manufacturers, including myself, we often rush to push products into the market. Yes, these products may be developed in sophisticated labs with farmer data. But too often, we fail to deliver actual solutions that meet farmers’ real needs.
Whenever I speak to my team, I tell them: be like a homeopathic doctor, read the pulse. Understand what farmers truly require. Only then should we guide our chemists and biotechnologists to design solutions tailored to those needs.
This approach allows us to create products specifically suited to Indian soils and Indian farmers. In fact, we even customize our formulations by district and state because soil types, farming habits, and local conditions vary so widely.
Q: How can farmers be made more resilient in managing their crops, and what initiatives are necessary to support this resilience?
A: The initiatives we need today cannot rely on the government alone. While the government is doing its part, companies must also step forward, because we ultimately serve the very farmers who feed us. This creates a dual responsibility: we depend on the farmer’s produce, and the farmer depends on our support.
On World Soil Health Day, we launched a project that reflects this commitment. In one district of Madhya Pradesh, we recruited 50 university students and placed them on our payroll. In addition, we engaged 198 unemployed youth, trained them for two months, and prepared them to become effective field enablers.
Our first goal is to reach the local agri-input shops, because these shopkeepers significantly influence farmers’ decisions. Farmers follow the advice they receive there, so equipping shop owners with correct and scientific knowledge is essential.
We also partnered with KVKs to conduct soil testing, which is crucial. Farmers must know what their soil actually needs. If the soil already contains sufficient potash, then repeatedly applying potash makes no sense. Understanding soil health is the foundation of good farming, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) help us bring that clarity.
To strengthen the effort further, we hired retired officers from state agriculture departments to train farmers directly. In doing so, we aim to train the entire ecosystem, from retailers to farmers, in how to restore and protect soil health. If the soil is healthy, roots grow stronger, yields improve, and farming becomes more sustainable. Everything begins with the soil.
This is a small initiative, but it shows what is possible. Through your platform, I want to appeal to large MNCs and major Indian companies: Why can’t they take up similar initiatives? Such programs not only improve agriculture but also help address unemployment. If a small enterprise like ours can do it, then surely large companies can do even more, by training unemployed youth, deploying them in the field, and cultivating in them a genuine commitment to agriculture.
This mindset, the habit of caring for the soil and the farmer, is essential for the future of Indian agriculture.
Q: In your view, what’s the main gap preventing farmers from increasing their incomes or boosting crop yields?
A: I will answer this question in two parts.
First, when we talk about doubling farmers’ income, we must start with the fundamentals: healthy soil, high-quality seed, reliable germination, and the absence of spurious pesticides. Farmers must also receive the fair value for the yield they produce. These factors form the base of any meaningful increase in income.
Second, we must examine the input costs, which directly affect farmers’ profitability. Indian companies, rightly called the backbone of the nation by the Prime Minister, largely use Indian raw materials and Indian production capacities. However, a major challenge lies in how certain products, especially bio-stimulants and bio-fertilizers, are positioned in the market.
Let me illustrate this through a simple example. Soil in Germany may contain humic acid, and Indian soil also contains humic acid. If a farmer needs a 10% humic acid product, the source, Germany or India, doesn’t change the content. What matters is that the farmer gets 10%.
But when a German or foreign company brings the same product to India, they often present it as a “novel innovation” and patent it. Indian companies, however, avoid patenting agricultural inputs because patents create barriers. Just as the government chose not to patent the COVID vaccine to ensure accessibility, we believe agriculture inputs should remain accessible to farmers as well.
Patents may protect innovators, but they also inflate prices dramatically. For example, humic acid from Indian manufacturers costs ₹200 to ₹400, while the same humic acid from multinational companies costs ₹1,000 to ₹2,000, even though the content is identical.
This cost escalation directly undermines efforts to double farmers’ income. When the cost of cultivation rises sharply, how can farmers increase their yield or improve profitability?
Ultimately, reducing input costs is as important as increasing output. Without addressing this imbalance, doubling farmers’ income will remain an aspiration rather than an achievable reality.
Q: What key initiatives are you pursuing to scale and grow your business?
A: When we began, I relied heavily on imports from China. It was the easiest and most convenient way to bring products to the market. But when COVID struck, my father asked me a simple question: “Is China still essential to your business?” That question changed everything.
I realized the answer was no, and we undertook a 360-degree transformation of our company. We shifted entirely to Indian raw materials, even though the transition brought several challenges. We began cultivating seaweed in India, manufacturing fertilizers locally, and building a supply chain rooted in Indian capability.
That decision became a turning point. Today, instead of importing, we are exporting to Vietnam, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, and several African countries. We now compete directly with global brands, proving that Made-in-India products can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with international players.
The shift has also created national value. We moved from spending US dollars to earning US dollars for the country, which is a matter of pride for us.
Our portfolio now spans bio-stimulants, bio-fertilizers, liquid fertilizers, and organic fertilizers, all developed and manufactured in India. This is the journey we continue to build on every day.
