Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi announced on Thursday that the government will prioritize green fuel-based farm machinery and improve access to mechanization for small and marginal farmers, aligning with India's ambition to become a global food basket by 2047.

Speaking at the ninth edition of the EIMA Agrimach event organized by FICCI, Chaturvedi emphasized that increased mechanization is essential to achieve key objectives such as raising farmers' income by reducing costs, increasing productivity, improving price realization through value addition, and building climate resilience. He urged a shift towards green fuels within the next 5-10 years, advocating for electrically operated tractors and machines powered by compressed biogas (CBG) sourced from rural CBG plants.

The Agriculture Secretary stated that transitioning to green fuel-based technologies would lower maintenance and operational costs for farmers, adding that government schemes will increasingly favor these technologies. He also encouraged collaboration with Italian industry counterparts at the event, emphasizing the urgency of this shift.

In related news, India's rice output is projected to reach a record high of 124 million tonnes in the 2025 Kharif season. Separately, Google is developing a digital agri-stack using satellite imagery to identify farm boundaries, with the aim of improving subsidy payments, farm insurance, and farm loans. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged agricultural scientists to focus their research on practical solutions that benefit farmers, ensure livelihoods, and promote nutritious food and natural farming.