Agriculture Policy Needs Wider Participation, Says Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Agribusiness Summit 2025
08 December 2025, New Delhi: The Agribusiness Summit 2025 opened in New Delhi with a clear message that India’s agricultural growth depends on collective effort across government, industry, and the scientific community. The discussions focused on expanding agricultural GDP through technology, quality inputs, and research that directly reaches farmers.
Union Minister Calls for ‘Lab to Land’
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the government’s first priority is agriculture and emphasised that policymaking cannot work if designed by government alone. He stated that he attended the summit because the entire agriculture community was present and added that research done only inside laboratories “will not work” unless scientists spend time in the field. He reiterated that the goal is “lab to land,” and research must aim to improve the lives of farmers rather than only produce technical papers.
Chouhan highlighted farmer-led innovations that arise directly from the field and called for deeper research on persistent challenges such as pink bollworm in cotton and other crucial issues. He said the ministry has identified 500 such issues for focused work. Foodgrain production, he noted, has increased by 44% in the last 11 years, and climate-resilient varieties are performing well despite climate pressures. While seed improvement, input access, mechanisation, and “per drop more crop” cheeses have increased production, the cost of cultivation has also risen. As a result, profitability has not grown proportionately. Chouhan called for reducing pesticide and chemical fertiliser use and moving toward balanced application.
PHDCCI Agribusiness Committee Chair and Dhanuka Group Chairman Emeritus R. G. Agarwal appreciated the minister’s decision to spend 15 days in the field during Kharif and Rabi to understand farmer challenges. He said India can aim to triple farmer income and that if China has achieved such gains, India can too. Agarwal pointed to input quality as a key issue for farmers and said both government and the private sector are working continuously to improve standards.
Industry Flags Input Use Trends; PHDCCI Highlights National Initiatives
Dhanuka Agritech Managing Director Rahul Dhanuka noted that India has the lowest agricultural chemical use globally according to FAO data and said recent studies show further decline. He added that while input use is low overall, misuse persists in some regions, which affects productivity and crop health. He advocated for public-private partnerships to promote responsible use of agrochemicals and fertilisers and said cooperation across sectors will be important for raising national productivity.
PHDCCI CEO and Secretary General Ranjeet Mehta spoke about ongoing government programmes that are reshaping Indian agriculture. He said targeted beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana now exceed 1.7 crore and that natural farming clusters cover more than 7.5 lakh hectares. Mehta highlighted the Digital Agriculture Mission’s investment, which links MAITRIs and AI Centres of Excellence to promote precision farming, predictive tools, and advisory systems. He added that Bio-Input Resource Centres and the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme are creating new income avenues for rural communities and strengthening the push toward higher agricultural GDP.
The summit’s inaugral session concluded with broad agreement that India’s path to tripling agricultural GDP will require shared responsibility, practical research, quality inputs, and systems that lower cultivation costs.
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