ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS 2025-26 (Innovating Agriculture, Empowering Farmers, Securing the Future)

As India advances towards the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047, agriculture remains central to the nation’s economic growth, environmental sustainability, and rural prosperity. The year 2025–26 was one in which that vision moved from aspiration to evidence. Foodgrain production rose to 252 million tonnes, a nearly 49 per cent increase. This is not merely a statistical milestone; it is the collective outcome of scientific research, technological innovation, and the growing adoption by farmers of solutions emerging from agricultural science. Behind this headline number lies a year of scientific firsts: the release of the world’s first genome-edited rice varieties for cultivation; the unveiling of the Gau and Mahish genomic chips by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, opening a new chapter in indigenous livestock improvement; and the direct outreach to more than 13.5 million farmers, field by field, through the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyaan - India’s largest-ever scientist-to-farmer outreach initiative. This publication is a record of that transformative year. It is organised around the way ICAR itself now works - as “One Organization, One Purpose, One Narrative” - tracing the journey from the laboratory to the last field. It brings together advances in crop and livestock science, soil and climate resilience, mechanisation and post-harvest value addition, education and digital outreach, and, finally, the global partnerships that are carrying Indian agricultural science beyond our borders. Every number in the pages that follow represents more than an achievement on paper. It represents a farmer whose yield increased, whose risk was reduced, or whose income became a little more secure. Together, these numbers tell the story of Indian agriculture moving forward: with science as its foundation, farmers at its centre, and Viksit Bharat @2047 as its guiding vision.