Maharashtra is leading India’s farming revolution with a bold new push into artificial intelligence. The state just unveiled its MahaAgri-AI Policy for 2025-2029, backed by ₹500 crore in funding. This makes Maharashtra the first in India to create a full-scale, state-wide plan that weaves AI and digital tools into every step of agriculture—from planting seeds to selling crops. It’s not just small tests anymore; this is big-time AgriTech 4.0, where farmers rely on smart algorithms, satellite data, and weather predictions as much as rain and dirt.
Dexian India, a company with deep know-how in digital change, AI, mapping tech, and apps built for farmers, steps in as a key partner. Their experience in digitizing large farming operations positions them perfectly to help turn this policy into real results on the ground.
Why Maharashtra Craves Big-Scale Digital Farming
Maharashtra grows more than 20% of India’s sugarcane and tops the charts in grapes, pomegranates, bananas, cotton, and pulses. But yields per acre often fall short of global standards, thanks to broken supply lines, water shortages, worn-out soil, and losses after harvest.
Early tests show AI boosting sugarcane yields by up to 40% per acre while cutting water and fertilizer use in half. Experts say rolling out AI statewide could lift overall crop outputs by 30-45%. These aren’t pie-in-the-sky ideas—they’re real opportunities reshaping farming.
The state is all in on AI for agriculture. Now, it needs the tech backbone to make it happen. Dexian offers ready-to-go platforms that connect policy goals to on-the-farm wins.
"Venkat Lakshminarasimha, Executive Director of Solutions for India and the Middle East at Dexian, puts it this way: Maharashtra has shown real vision by putting AI at the heart of its farming policy. What comes next is the digital setup to back it up."
How Dexian India Boosts the Effort
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Precision Farming with AI and IoT
Dexian builds AI and machine learning tools that blend satellite images, weather updates, and soil checks. These give farmers spot-on advice for planting, watering, and managing crops. In Maharashtra, this could save water, fine-tune fertilizers, and help crops tough out unpredictable rains. -
Geospatial Tracking and Drone Insights
The new policy spotlights mapping tech and drones for smarter farming. Dexian’s analytics, tested in other states, watch crop health, spot droughts or floods early, and send instant alerts for fixes. Pair it with drone photos, and farmers slash losses from hidden pests or stress. -
Local Tips in Marathi
Dexian’s Agriculture Information Exchange Platform (AIEP) sends tailored advice in farmers’ native languages. For Maharashtra, that means AI alerts in Marathi through apps, phone calls, or voice chats—covering weather, bugs, and more. It makes sure farmers get the info and use it.
As Lakshminarasimha notes: "AgriTech 4.0 succeeds when it’s simple for everyday farmers. Imagine a small farmer in Vidarbha hearing a Marathi voice alert about pests or checking live market prices on her phone—that’s real change." -
Better Market Links and Fair Prices
Farmers often struggle with prices and middlemen. Dexian’s tools use optical character recognition (OCR), AI price predictions, and multilingual apps to share real-time market data from over 300 agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) in Maharashtra. This brings transparency, better tracking, and fairer deals. -
Smarter Subsidies and Streamlined Government Work
The state pours money into farmer aid, but waste and errors pop up. Dexian’s data platforms, like the one that revamped farming for 20 million in Bihar, use AI to target subsidies right, cut leaks, and give officials clear dashboards for oversight.
Empowering Women in Farming
Maharashtra is also pushing drones into the hands of rural women, part of a national drive for inclusive agriculture. Women make up nearly 37% of India’s farm workers but rarely get the tech they need. Drones let them monitor fields in real time, act fast on issues, and ease hard labor. This not only closes gender gaps but boosts family earnings and strong communities.
Dexian’s user-friendly platforms, with voice features and local languages, make drones easier for women to handle—managing data and getting custom tips that fit their world.
Keeping the Digital Farm World Safe
As farming goes digital fast, protecting farmer data is crucial, just like growing bigger crops. It means strong cyber defenses and following India’s data rules to build trust. Slip-ups could scare people away from these tools. Dexian excels in secure, big-league systems and transformations, so they can weave safety into every part—creating tough, fair, and future-proof setups that deliver benefits without risks.
Building a Smarter Maharashtra
This policy isn’t just about farms—it’s a blueprint for growth. By mixing digital smarts with old-school farming, Maharashtra could lead India’s vision of a developed nation, lifting millions of lives.
The government shows smart planning here. Dexian is geared up with tested, flexible solutions to team up and build an intelligent, open, and competitive farming system.
Lakshminarasimha adds: "Together, we can create fields powered by data that drive real progress."
In the end, Maharashtra’s leap into AI-driven agriculture feels urgent and right. Climate shifts, dry spells, and messy markets demand fresh fixes through data and tech. With Dexian’s precision tools, mapping platforms, farmer guides, and governance aids, the state can fuel a boom. Maharashtra’s farms aren’t just rich in soil—they’re set to be smart, fair, and fully digital, starting today.
Venkat Lakshminarasimha serves as Executive Director of Solutions for India and the Middle East at Dexian India. He leads in business and product management, turning tough challenges into smart fixes across IT, government, and AgriTech. Under his watch, Dexian has grown its services worldwide, setting up hubs in data science, AI, and more to spark innovation.
(This article draws from a press release by VMPL; content reflects the provider’s views.)
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