Approximately 30% of India’s geographical area is affected by land degradation.
Climate-resilient agriculture can increase yields by 17% and reduce farm GHG emissions by 21%.
Modern technology can tackle the 10-25% drop in production of staples caused by climate-related vulnerabilities.
In India, nearly 86% of all farmers are smallholder, operating on fragmented landholdings that limit productivity and make the adoption of modern technologies a challenge. These farmers face a complex web of systemic issues—from erratic monsoons and degrading soil health to rising input costs, limited infrastructure, and shrinking access to credit. Climate change continues to intensify these vulnerabilities, often pushing farming families into cycles of economic distress.
Krishi Mangal—a collaboration between Social Alpha and Cisco CSR—was launched in 2021 to address these interconnected challenges by enabling innovations that strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers. The program has supported start-ups working on soil restoration, efficient irrigation, decentralised processing, circular waste solutions, and more—helping farmers improve yields, cut costs, and reduce risk.
The third edition of Krishi Mangal expands its lens beyond core agriculture to back deep-tech solutions that drive sustainable, regenerative practices across farming and allied rural livelihoods. The current edition focuses on bringing deep-tech solutions to the forefront—addressing critical challenges such as soil degradation, water scarcity, post-harvest losses, crop value realisation, waste management, and rising input costs. With a strong emphasis on climate resilience, sustainability, and farmer-centric design, the program is committed to empowering smallholder farmers by increasing awareness, improving productivity, profitability, and long-term viability of agricultural and allied practices.
Since inception, Krishi Mangal has enabled over 2 lakh farmers to access technology, helped more than 50,000 farmers increase their incomes, created 1,000+ direct livelihoods, and generated a market worth ₹3.4 crore for impact-led innovations.
Focus Areas
Inefficient input application and suboptimal resource management have led to a 30–40% loss in potential crop yields. Over the past decade, this challenge has intensified due to declining seed quality and the overuse of agrochemicals—resulting in reduced crop productivity, increased pest resistance, higher cultivation costs, and growing financial stress on farmers. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Precision farming technologies such as affordable IoT-based sensors, AI-driven platforms for automating irrigation scheduling and pest detection, and drones for crop monitoring and pesticide spraying to enhance input efficiency, reduce losses, and improve crop health.
- Biotechnology and nanotechnology-based inputs, including climate-resilient, high-quality seed varieties, smart pesticides, herbicides, weedicides, and growth promoters that replace outdated and inefficient agricultural practices.
- Blockchain-powered traceability systems to enable end-to-end quality control, increase transparency across the supply chain, and improve market access for farmers.
Over half of India’s agricultural land is degraded, with 60–70% of soils lacking essential nutrients and nearly 70% deficient in organic carbon. Combined with water stress—80% of groundwater is over-exploited and only 45% of cultivated land is irrigated—this leads to inefficient water use and depleting water tables. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Soil health diagnostic tools using PCR-based microbial profiling, near-infrared spectroscopy, and AI-driven platforms to assess key parameters and provide precise, site-specific nutrient recommendations.
- Soil rejuvenation inputs made from engineered microbial consortia that restore nutrient cycling, improve structure and fertility, and enhance water retention.
- Innovations in water and irrigation management, including artificial aquifer recharge systems, groundwater mapping and monitoring, IoT- and analytics-integrated irrigation systems aligned with crop needs, and solar-powered pumps designed for smallholders.
Farm mechanisation in India is still low—only 40–45% compared to the global average of 60–70%—and just 15–20% of the total harvested area is mechanised. High costs and poor access to small farm equipment continue to limit adoption, especially among smallholder farmers who rely heavily on manual labour. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Gender-sensitive and ergonomic tools, such as low-cost, lightweight tractors, tillers, weeders, cultivators, and seeders designed for small farms and women farmers. These may include AI-enabled, semi-autonomous equipment that reduces strain and increases efficiency.
- Precision tools like drones, UAVs, robotic implements, and intelligent spraying systems tailored to small landholdings (0.5–5 acres) for tasks like soil preparation, spraying, and harvesting.
- Renewable energy-powered machines, such as solar-assisted autonomous tools, electric UAVs, and energy-efficient sprayers, to reduce costs, emissions, and labour dependency while promoting sustainable practices.
India loses 30–40% of total food production post-harvest due to inadequate storage, poor handling, and weak transport infrastructure. Perishables like fruits, vegetables, and grains are especially affected, with 20–30% lost before reaching markets. Lack of cold storage, poor logistics, and minimal local processing only worsen the problem. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Energy-efficient storage and monitoring systems, including solar-powered, portable, and modular cold storage units suited for off-grid rural areas.
- Smart packaging and preservation methods such as active and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and edible coatings to extend shelf life and reduce chemical use.
- Mobile processing units like portable grinders, mills, juicers, and solar-powered dehydrators to convert perishables into shelf-stable products—cutting spoilage and increasing farmer incomes.
India has the world’s largest livestock population (535.78 million), generating vast amounts of organic waste—especially from 200 million dairy cows and 105 million buffaloes. This leads to high methane emissions, water pollution, and health risks. In rural areas, 75% of household energy is used for cooking, mostly from biomass. However, the uptake of clean biogas energy remains low due to high costs, lack of standardisation, and poor after-sales service. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- AI/ML, IoT, and advanced monitoring integrations for domestic biogas systems to optimise performance without raising costs.
- Standardised, low-cost biogas systems for cooking, mobility, and electricity—addressing issues like high capital costs, need for customisation, and poor maintenance support.
- Waste-to-energy supply chains for collecting and processing organic waste from agriculture and livestock to reduce methane emissions and enable decentralised clean energy production.
Who Should Apply
Innovators and entrepreneurs with in-revenue solutions that have demonstrated technical performance, early market traction, return on investment, and measurable social impact.
Program Offerings
Important Dates
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Applications Open
June 12th, 2025
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Applications Close
July 13th, 2025
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Jury
August 4th – 8th, 2025
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Announcement of Winners
August 2025
Supported by
frequently asked questions
1. Who can apply for the program?
Innovators and entrepreneurs with transformative technologies that address a curated set of challenges faced by smallholder farmers. Individuals, groups of individuals, and start-ups registered in India are eligible to apply for the program.
2. In which category am I eligible to apply?
Applicants are requested to select the most appropriate category based on their product development stage. Please select the category carefully since the application forms will have some unique questions.
3. Is there any preference for an innovation?
Applicants are encouraged to submit applications for technology-based innovations that focus on solving challenges faced by smallholder farmers across the country. The innovation may be a product, platform or service, but must be aligned to the focus areas outlined in the program. There is a preference for technology-based innovations that have a high social impact potential and are aligned with existing central or state government schemes.
4. Can I submit more than one application for different technologies?
No, one enterprise is applicable for only one application; however, the applicant might be addressing different challenges so they can select multiple problem statements as per their focus area.
5. How many applications will be selected?
A total of 7 start-ups will be selected.
6. What is the duration of the engagement?
The engagement is typically 12 months long. However, it will vary from case to case based on the needs of the start-up or innovation.
7. What are the different types of benefits I can avail?
The cohort will receive access to an acceleration program covering one or more of the following, depending on the needs assessment conducted by Social Alpha.
- Grant support of upto ₹50 lakhs
- Sandbox facility to test, validate and pilot innovations or projects on the ground
- Access to seed investment from Social Alpha after thorough due diligence
- Product iteration support, including assistance with designing, rapid prototyping, and design for manufacturing
- Dedicated agri-business experts to assist with business planning, developing go-to-market strategy, and overall business advisory
- Mentorship by a set of qualified global and local experts and access to a curated set of capacity-building sessions
- Practical on-the-ground feedback from the farmer communities, grassroots non-profits, agriculture experts, and corporate and government bodies
- Access to shared office space and amenities at Social Alpha and support services such as accounting, compliance, taxation, legal, IP, etc.
8. Do I have to be physically present for any cohort-based sessions? Is attendance necessary?
The cohort will be required to attend the orientation launchpad. There may also be a need to participate physically in other sessions during the program. The start-ups/innovators will also be required to attend relevant workshops, events, and demo days during the incubation period physically or virtually depending upon the need. Unless there is a pre-communicated genuine and unavoidable reason for absence, start-ups/innovators missing most of the program will not only lose the actual benefits of their selection but may also be reconsidered for continued support from the program.
9. How frequently will Social Alpha interface with the cohort during the program?
There will be regular interface between the start-ups/innovators and the Social Alpha team. Each start-up will be allocated a portfolio manager to help with customised requests, who will engage with the start-ups continually and regularly.
10. What kind of funding support can I avail through the program?
The winning cohort of 7 start-ups will receive support of ₹50 lakhs each for pilot implementation in addition to ₹5 lakhs for marketing and branding, sales and distribution, tech refinement, regulatory and compliance, or fundraising requirements. Eligible start-ups in the program may also be considered for follow-on funding, subject to successful due diligence and investment committee approval.
11. Can I submit my application after the deadline?
No, applications submitted after the stated deadline will not be evaluated.
Terms and Conditions
Please read the following terms and conditions before submitting your entry:
1. Eligibility
- Participating or proposed ventures should be independent entities, meaning that they should not be a subsidiary of an existing corporation or have legal ties to a government body.
- As the program is looking for start-ups to work on establishing marketing channels for existing products and not research, only those with developed ideas and/or prototypes should apply.
- The applicant should be a registered company in India. The shareholding by Indian promoters in the company should be at least 51%.
2. Submissions and Participation
- Submissions which are incomplete will be deemed void and disqualified from the program evaluations.
- Submissions should be the original work of the participant/participating entity, should demonstrate positive social or environmental impact, and should have a disruptive technology innovation with the potential to be sustainable and scalable in India (though not exclusively in the region).
- Participants who are determined to be ‘Finalists’ and ranked in the final evaluation stage might be required to send at least one core member for the final round of evaluations.
- Winners agree to the use of their names, photographs, and the disclosure of their country of residence; and are required to cooperate with any other reasonable requests by the organiser relating to any publicity-related activities.
- Winners are required to submit a declaration of good standing and solvency at the final stage of evaluation. If there is any change in circumstance that invalidates their good standing and solvency, the team is to immediately inform the organisers.
- All participants own the rights to their ideas. Participants must properly acknowledge any trademarks, patented or copyrighted materials of others that are incorporated into the submission materials. Participants are responsible for obtaining any necessary permission before utilising such materials in their submissions.
- Submitted ideas are protected in the spirit of non-disclosure, and all submitted materials will be treated as company confidential. The only people with access to the entry materials will be evaluators/judges, partners and select members of the organising committee. Materials will not be distributed to any other party unless requested by a participant. No other provisions are made to protect intellectual property.
- Participants are advised not to disclose critical information that would affect the successful filing of patent(s). All presentations are open to the general public, and some presentations may be videotaped. Attendance by media personnel is expected in the final stages of the program. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by participants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions.
3. Decisions regarding the winners
- The selection of the ‘Winners’ is at the sole discretion of the judges and the organisers from Social Alpha and partnering organisations. Best efforts will be made to make decisions in accordance with this document.
- Throughout all phases of the challenge, all decisions of the judges are final.
4. Disqualification and Organiser’s Right to Amend Competition Rules
- The organisers of the program reserve the right to disqualify any participant who is found to have violated the spirit of the application guidelines and terms and conditions stated herein. Disqualified participants shall forfeit all prizes awarded to them.
- The organisers reserve the right to amend these rules at any point before the closing date of the applications in line with the overall goal of the challenge.
- The indicated dates for the applications may be revised at any point of time by the organisers. Any change in schedule will be suitably intimated on the applications webpage and on other relevant platforms.
For any assistance needed in filling the application form, please reach out to us at