Policy Update
Shruti Chandra
Background
Agriculture and allied activities remain central to India’s livelihoods, accounting for 46.1% of the workforce while contributing nearly one-fifth of national income (Economic Survey 2025-26). This high employment dependence, alongside persistent constraints such as fragmented holdings, limited access to irrigation and quality inputs, low mechanisation and stagnating yields, underscores the need to raise agricultural productivity and farm incomes. At the same time, climate variability, extreme weather events, changing rainfall patterns, pest outbreaks and water stress are increasing uncertainty in farm-level decision-making. However, improving agricultural productivity requires not only physical inputs but also timely, location-specific and scientifically validated knowledge on crop selection, sowing, irrigation, nutrient management, pest control, weather and markets.
Against this backdrop, the government has increasingly leveraged Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and information technology to modernise agricultural extension. One of the major shifts in this direction was the launch of Kisan Sarathi in July 2021 by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, as an integrated digital agro-advisory platform. Its broader objective is to harness digital technology to strengthen agricultural extension, support farm-level decision-making and contribute to higher productivity and farmer incomes.
Functioning:
Kisan Sarathi operationalises this digital agricultural extension through a network of institutions, technologies and service-delivery channels.
1) Implementation and Institutional Network: Kisan Sarathi is implemented by the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) and Digital India Corporation (DIC). Its mobile application connects farmers with a nationwide network of 730+ Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), 100+ ICAR institutes Use one consistent figure. If 113 is the exact number, use that throughout. If 100+ is approximate, explain why the table shows 113. and 65+ agricultural universities, thereby linking farmers with agricultural experts and institutions.
2) Two-way Advisory Mechanism: The platform uses the Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS), which enables two-way communication between farmers and experts. Farmers can seek solutions to farm-level problems and receive expert advice, facilitating the lab-to-land transfer of agricultural knowledge.
3)Integration of Digital Services: Kisan Sarathi integrates multiple digital platforms, including Kisan Call Centres, Common Service Centres (CSCs), the India Meteorological Department (IMD), MyScheme and BHASHINI, bringing advisory, weather, scheme-related and language-access services onto a common digital interface. This reduces farmers’ dependence on multiple channels and enables faster, easier and more reliable access to essential agricultural information.
4) Multi-channel Accessibility: Recognising variations in farmers’ access to smartphones, internet connectivity and digital literacy, Kisan Sarathi provides multiple access channels through:
- Kisan Call Centres
- Common Service Centres
- Web Portal
- Mobile App
Performance:
Kisan Sarathi enables personalised advisories based on farmer and farm profiles, live expert interaction in 13 regional languages, need-based calls and conferencing, a farmer knowledge database, and location and domain-specific push alerts, with easy registration through toll-free and web channels. Its advisory coverage spans cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticulture, plantation and fodder crops, besides livestock, poultry, fisheries and other allied sectors.
| Dimension | Scale achieved |
| Geographical coverage | 36 States/UTs across 768 districts and 6.63 lakh villages |
| Knowledge & expert base | 113 ICAR institutes and 4,767 ICAR scientists |
| Farmer outreach | 2.95 crore farmers, of which 56.16 lakh women beneficiaries |
| Registration channels | Of the registered farmers, 2.89 crore enrolled through their nearest KVK, while 5.35 lakh registered through Kisan Call Centres, 39,193 through Common Service Centres, 21,517 through the mobile application, and 2,416 through the web portal. |
| Advisory delivery | 21,900 advisories covering 351 commodities in 34 States/UTs. |
| Scheme access | The portal provides access to 610 schemes, of which 102 are central government schemes. |
Source: Data compiled by the author from PIB, “Technology to Unite, Empower, and Strengthen the Agricultural Ecosystem,” 25 June 2026.
Impact
- Potential to enhance crop management knowledge: A 2024–25 ICAR study of 300 farmers across three districts of Uttar Pradesh, using a 17-item knowledge test and Difference-in-Differences analysis, found a significant positive effect of Kisan Sarathi advisories on farmers’ knowledge of rabi crop practices.
- Supporting climate-resilient crop diversification: Kisan Sarathi provides crop-specific advisories across cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticulture, plantation and fodder crops, which complements India’s shift towards climate-resilient crop diversification by providing farmers with relevant technical guidance for adopting alternative crops.
- Promoting income diversification: Advisories covering livestock, poultry and fisheries complement efforts to diversify farm incomes by equipping farmers with technical knowledge for expanding into allied agricultural activities.
- Supporting Lab-to-Land Linkages: Kisan Sarathi enables ICAR institutions, agricultural universities and KVKs to disseminate research-based advisories, facilitate farmer-expert interaction and support the transfer of agricultural technologies from research institutions to the field.
- Enabling Evidence-Based Planning: Farmer queries and field-level information generated through the platform provide policymakers and administrators with inputs on local agricultural needs, supporting better targeting of agricultural extension services.
Emerging issues
Despite the progress made, certain gaps remain in ensuring the platform’s full potential is realised at the farm level.
First, integrating farmer profiles, weather, crop and expert databases across multiple platforms creates a need for seamless interoperability, data quality, privacy and responsible use of farmer data, particularly as the scale and scope of digital agricultural services expand.
Second, while its multi-channel architecture through Kisan Call Centres, CSCs, WhatsApp, web and mobile applications reduces dependence on smartphones, poor or unreliable rural connectivity can still constrain the timely delivery of advisories, particularly during weather events and pest outbreaks when information is most actionable.
Third, while the portal provides access to 610 schemes, including 102 Central Government schemes, as of 25th June 2026 (PIB, 29 June 2026), the extent to which this information translates into actual scheme enrolment and benefits remains important to assess. Mere availability of scheme information does not establish whether farmers are able to identify, apply for and ultimately receive benefits through the platform.
Finally, the platform’s existing metrics largely capture reach and service delivery, such as registrations, queries and advisories, but provide limited evidence of whether these translate into changes in farming practices, productivity, resource use and farm incomes, creating an outcome-impact gap.
Way forward:
Kisan Sarathi should strengthen interoperable and secure data systems, improve last-mile digital connectivity, and develop outcome-based monitoring that tracks whether advisories and scheme information translate into actual adoption and benefits. Greater integration with scheme delivery systems, coupled with regular impact assessment and farmer feedback, can further strengthen the platform as an effective bridge between agricultural knowledge, public services and farm-level outcomes. Additionally, the Kisan Sarathi ecosystem should be continuously updated to incorporate emerging agricultural knowledge, technologies and farmers’ evolving needs. ICAR’s National Workshop on ‘Creation of Agricultural Advisories using Kisan Sarathi Kosh’, held in New Delhi on 23 September 2025, exemplifies such institutional efforts to strengthen and evolve the platform.
With the Government viewing Kisan Sarathi as an important milestone in the digital transformation of agricultural extension, its sustained development can help embed technology more firmly in farmer-centric agricultural governance and decision-making.
References:
Press Information Bureau. (2026, June 29). The Kisan Sarathi platform: Technology to unite, empower, and strengthen the agricultural ecosystem. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. https://share.google/xLLj2eikzpHY8GdFC
Mukherjee, S., Padaria, R. N., Burman, R. R., Nikam, V. R., Aiswarya, S., Mahra, G. S., Aditya, K., Kumar, A., Saini, S., Mallick, S., & Gorai, S. K. (2026). Assessment of Kisan Sarathi in influencing farmers’ knowledge on rabi crop practices: A difference-in-difference approach. The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 96(5), 646–652. https://epubs.icar.org.in/index.php/IJAgS/article/view/173527
Kisan Sarathi. (n.d.). Kisan Sarathi: Powered by IIDS. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare & Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.https://kisansarathi.in/
Indian Council of Agricultural Research. (2025, September 23). National workshop on Kisan Sarathi organised. ICAR https://share.google/7oJlAiP1OptI5RDg
About The Contributor
Shruti Chandra is a Research & Editorial Intern at IMPRI.
Acknowledgement
Sincere gratitude is extended to the IMPRI team for their guidance and support and to the reviewers, Ayana NK & Himanshi Singh for their valuable feedback and reviews.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
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