Indian School of Agriculture should help farmers become CEOs of their own farmlands, says Anant Ambani

Reliance Industries Executive Director Anant Ambani on Friday highlighted the importance of a technology-driven transformation of Indian agriculture.

“The Indian School of Agriculture (ISA) should help farmers become CEOs of their own farmlands,” Mr. Anant Ambani said.

Sharing the dais with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman after laying the stone for the ISA and unveiling the Global Horticulture Hub project here, Mr. Anant Ambani said the ₹40,000-crore hub would modernise Rayalaseema farming. “Artificial Intelligence, drones, robotics, cloud computing and precision agriculture will be the buzzwords,” he said.

“AI could alert farmers to pest attacks and help Madanapalle tomato growers decide when and where to sell the produce, while greenhouse technology could enable year-round cultivation,” he said.

Mr. Anant Ambani said Jio would work with ISA to take the training programmes to millions of farmers in Indian languages digitally, with rural youth trained as agricultural extension workers. Reliance would also share its research capabilities, he added.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Reliance Industries Executive Director Anant Ambani at the laying of stone for the Indian School of Agriculture, at Madanapalle in Annamayya district on Friday.
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He said Reliance was exploring a ₹1 lakh-crore investment in compressed biogas plants in Andhra Pradesh, potentially creating over three lakh jobs and generating ₹60,000 crore in revenue.

Appealing to the Chief Minister, Mr. Anant Ambani said, “Consider me a son of Andhra Pradesh and guide me on what I can do for this beautiful State.”