Agri-Startups and IoT's Role towards Sustainable Agriculture: An Indian Perspective

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture is paramount for addressing the escalating global challenges of food security, environmental degradation, and climate change. In India, a nation where agriculture remains the backbone of the economy and a primary livelihood for millions, traditional farming practices are particularly vulnerable. Farmers grapple with multifaceted issues including increasingly erratic weather patterns and unpredictable monsoons, directly impacting crop yields and farmer incomes (Economic Survey, 2025). Compounding this are critical concerns such as widespread soil fertility depletion due to intensive farming and overuse of chemical inputs, leading to long-term ecological damage and reduced productivity. Furthermore, inefficient water usage, with agriculture consuming a significant proportion of India's freshwater resources, exacerbates water stress in many regions, a challenge projected to intensify with climate change (NITI Aayog, 2025). The prevalence of fragmented landholdings also presents a unique challenge, making the adoption of large-scale, capital-intensive technologies difficult for individual farmers, thus limiting their capacity for sustainable transformation. However, the advent of cutting-edge digital technologies, especially the Internet of Things (IoT), offers transformative and scalable solutions to these persistent agricultural dilemmas. IoT, through its ability to collect and transmit real-time data from sensors deployed across fields, enables a paradigm shift towards precision agriculture. This data-driven approach allows for optimized resource allocation, drastically reducing waste of critical inputs like water, fertilizers, and pesticides, and minimizing environmental impact (Consensus, 2025; Frontiers, 2025). Agri-startups in India, leveraging these IoT capabilities, are emerging as pivotal drivers in revolutionizing agricultural practices. They are promoting unprecedented levels of resource efficiency, fostering environmental stewardship through reduced chemical reliance, enhancing farm productivity, and improving farmer profitability. This article delves into the pivotal role of these innovative Indian agri-startups in integrating IoT for sustainable agriculture, providing concrete examples of their impactful work and outlining future directions for this crucial intersection of technology and sustainability.