Sustainable Farming

Meet five extraordinary changemakers transforming Indian agriculture with bold ideas, indigenous wisdom, and innovations that are quietly reshaping the way India farms, eats, and thrives. This September, Optum Presents The Better India Showcase, supported by the M3M Foundation, is honouring their impact.

Dragon fruit farming is booming across India. From soil-less techniques to making your own fertiliser, these farmers share tips that helped them earn up to Rs 2 crore annually. Here's how you can start your journey.

Bibi Fatima Women’s Self-Help Group from Dharwad’s Teertha village wins UNDP’s Equator Initiative Award for pioneering sustainable farming practices, millet revival initiatives, and unwavering commitment to food and nutritional security.

This World Photography Day, step inside India’s fields through portraits of farmers who are saving seeds, reviving traditions, and growing crops that change lives.

Darlapudi Ravi was an assistant general manager at a cement industry when he realised how modern dietary practices lead to a variety of diseases. Here's how this realisation motivated him to build a seed bank.

In Jharkhand’s mining districts, solar dryers, irrigation pumps, and cold storage units are helping smallholder farmers reduce waste and increase income. Through the JH-RESET project, supported by Swaniti Initiative, the state is also training mine workers for new roles in solar infrastructure, food processing, and green enterprises—redefining rural livelihoods.

Once grown across Powai and Thane and favoured by the British, the rare Cawasji Patel mango—named after a philanthropist who helped shape Mumbai—is making a comeback on a Maharashtra farm.

Navnath Kaspate’s breakthrough custard apple varieties are transforming drought-prone farming, doubling yields, and inspiring thousands.

What started as a simple experiment on one farm is now helping thousands escape drought. With pits dug by hand and powered by rain, farmers are growing more, earning better, and living without tankers. The method is so simple—it’s changing entire villages without a single drop wasted.

A farmer in Lalpur, Chhattisgarh, Milan Singh Vishwakarma earns up to Rs 8 lakh annually through sustainable lac farming, inspiring others to follow in his footsteps.