Soil and water are critical components of agriculture, but across India, soil degradation and water stress are crippling crop yields. Misuse of chemical inputs has damaged soil health, reducing organic exchange between soil and crops. At the same time, inefficient water management and a growing groundwater crisis leads to lower yields, water shortages, and rising irrigation costs, pushing farmers to the brink.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Soil health diagnostic tools that offer reliable, on-field, cost-effective advisories for synthetic, organic, natural, and integrated practices tailored for specific crops.
• Soil health management through bio inputs or rejuvenation products with compounds that directly improve productivity.
• Water source management innovations that augment artificial aquifer recharge, groundwater mapping and management, and help with monitoring water resources across the entire value chain from source to end use.
• On-farm water use management tools such as integrated data management technologies that leverage IoT and analytics for improved and affordable irrigation automation and water delivery or micro irrigation systems that map water use to crop requirements.
• Solar-based pumping technologies with sufficient water discharge for small farmlands.

Mechanisation is critical for performing farm operations on time, reducing cost and drudgery, and improving the quantity and quality of the produce. However, most machinery is expensive, has limited functionality and is usually unsuitable for smallholder farmers.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Small farm machinery or tools suitable for operations on 0.5-5-acre land size for land preparation, input application, inter-cultivation, plant protection, harvesting, etc., with a focus on reducing drudgery and improving efficiency for small land parcels.
• Gender-neutral, easy-to-use machinery that is affordable and can help increase the incomes of small farmers.
• Renewable energy-powered solutions that reduce operational costs and emissions.

Smallholder farmers often face unfair market conditions for perishable produce, forcing them into distress sales.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Affordable food preservation solutions that increase shelf-life by a week (short-term storage) to avoid stress selling and maximise the selling price for farmers.
• Micro energy efficient, hybrid storage units (1-2Mt capacity sections) that can store diverse commodities at different temperatures and can be used for pre-cooling and ripening.
• Decentralised, off-grid processing and value-addition solutions that create new markets for farmer collectives or FPOs, with assured market access and financial support.

In India, around 75% of the milk is produced by smallholder farmers with a herd size of 2-5. Nearly 80 million of these farmers rely on dairy farming for their livelihoods. However, they struggle to reap the full potential of dairying due to several challenges, including limited awareness of best practices, inadequate access to quality veterinary healthcare, a shortage of feed and fodder, and inefficient implementation of breed management.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Animal health and disease management for early detection and improved early-stage management of critical diseases through innovative diagnostics devices or processes.
• Animal feed and fodder management for improved animal nutrition, high productivity feed formulation, and better feed conversion efficiency.
• Artificial reproduction technologies that address the issue of repeat breeding to increase milk production.

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) contribute 30-35% of the income for forest-dwelling communities, with some areas in Northeast India seeing reliance soar to over 90%. However, exploitation by market forces, shrinking forest cover, and restricted access to the forest, are driving down economic returns and increasing the hardship faced by these communities.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Deep tech solutions such as blockchain-based technology for traceability, surveillance solutions to augment satellite monitoring such as AI/ML-based cameras, bioacoustics surveillance or ground truthing solutions.
• Resilient seed varieties that leverage biotech for improved plant varieties and disease control.
• A value-added solution for forest gate processing, decentralised production/processing, preservation and value addition, and incentives linked to sustainable harvesting to create incentives for collecting biomasses.

India generates close to 500 million metric tons of agricultural waste per year, much of it is burnt adding more CO₂ emissions in the Indo-Gangetic plains. In addition, with a livestock population of 535.78 million - including 200 million dairy cows and 105 million buffalos - India also produces vast amounts of animal waste, further adding to the challenge of managing farm byproducts.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

• Disruptive biotechnology and input materials such as inoculums and enzymes that can enhance the digestion process and yield better outputs.
• Innovation in purification and upgradation of biogas into biomethane, which improves its usability in transportation and industrial applications and energy-efficient compression techniques. We are also looking for solutions that can digest multiple feedstocks simultaneously, considering the huge and intermittent availability of some key feedstocks, such as agriculture residues.
• Slurry management and market linkage technologies for advancements in slurry processing through filtration and chemical conversion technologies and solutions that make it easier for farmers to find, buy, and use organic fertilisers.