Satnavri in Nagpur, Maharashtra, has become India’s first ‘smart and intelligent’ village. Inaugurated by CM Devendra Fadnavis, the village uses drones, sensors, AI education, and telemedicine to transform farming, healthcare, and learning. Backed by MahaNet, BharatNet, and 24 Indian tech firms, 3,500 more villages will soon follow this digital transformation model.
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that ISRO has developed a geo-portal to aid farmers with real-time data on droughts, rainfall, and weather. The tool helps farmers plan crops better and ensures accurate compensation under Fasal Bima Yojana. With satellite-based monitoring and pest detection research, space science is boosting agriculture, disaster management, and rural resilience.
BASF and ICAR-CRRI have launched a two-year trial in Odisha and Jharkhand to promote climate-smart rice farming. The study will test Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) to cut methane emissions, supported by herbicide-tolerant rice seeds. This initiative aligns with BASF’s goal to reduce rice-related GHG emissions by 30%, while boosting farmer incomes and enabling future carbon trading opportunities.
India’s Kharif crop coverage has risen to 1073.98 lakh hectares in 2025, up 3% from last year. Rice expanded strongly to 420.41 lakh hectares (+8%), while maize surged 12% to 93.34 lakh hectares. However, soybean acreage fell 4% and cotton declined 3%. Pulses and coarse cereals saw small gains, signaling a mixed but resilient outlook for the season.
Rising night temperatures are an overlooked climate threat to major field crops. Unlike drought and daytime heat, chronic nighttime warming has attracted far less research despite evidence it can cut yields. The opinion paper urges urgent, interdisciplinary R&D, plus targeted breeding and agronomic strategies, to build crop resilience to night-temperature stress and close this critical knowledge gap for future food security.
AgWise is bringing technology straight to the fields. With conversational agri-chatbots and IoT-powered smart farming systems, we partner with farmers and agri-organizations at every step, helping make farming more sustainable, more productive, and ready for the future.