Indian Cooperatives, Digital Tools Revolutionising Farmers' Incomes: World Bank Chief Ajay Banga

World Bank President Ajay Banga praised India’s producer cooperatives and digital innovations for transforming smallholder agriculture during his speech at the AgriConnect event at the World Bank’s 2025 Annual Meetings.

Highlighting their role in boosting farmers’ incomes and building resilience, he pointed to India’s scalable model as a global example.

Ajay Banga's speech at the World Bank's Annual Meetings comes at a time when tensions between India and the United States regarding agribusiness are heightened, centering on agricultural subsidies and market access

Cooperatives Empower India’s Small Farmers

Banga emphasised the critical role of producer cooperatives in connecting India’s small farmers to resources and markets. Reflecting on his early career, he said, “I have seen this personally in my first job when I was a young management trainee in India working with Nestle. I saw this work with dairy farmers in the Punjab.”

He also cited the Amul Cooperative, noting, “I’ve seen it with the Amul Cooperative in India, which transformed India from being one of the world’s most milk-short countries to the number one producer of milk in the world.”

These cooperatives, supported by government policies, link farmers to suppliers, insurers and buyers, ensuring access to fertilisers, credit and predictable markets.

This structure helps smallholders shift from subsistence farming to sustainable businesses, increasing their income potential.

Resilience Built into Indian Agriculture

Banga underscored that resilience is a foundational element of India’s agricultural approach. “Resilience is embedded at the beginning. It is not added later,” he stated.

He highlighted practices like heat-tolerant seeds, soil-matched fertilisers, rejuvenation techniques and efficient irrigation, which protect farmers from climate challenges.

Robust insurance and financing systems further ensure that “a bad season doesn’t become a bad year, doesn’t become a bad life,” he added.

These efforts align with India’s agricultural policies, which prioritise climate resilience and financial security for small farmers, enabling them to thrive despite environmental uncertainties.

“Digital is the glue that holds the system together”

Digital tools are central to this transformation, acting as the backbone of India’s agricultural ecosystem.

“Digital is the glue that holds the system together,” Banga said. He described how AI-powered tools and basic mobile phones help farmers diagnose crop diseases, choose fertilisers, receive weather alerts and process secure payments.

This digital framework creates a “virtuous loop,” as Banga explained: “That data trail then becomes a credit history. Better underwriting lowers the cost of capital, lower costs, draw in more lenders.”

By integrating cooperatives with digital platforms, farmers gain better market access and financial opportunities, boosting their incomes.

Uttar Pradesh: A Proven Model

Banga shared observations from a recent visit to Uttar Pradesh, where he witnessed the model’s success. “A couple of months ago, I was in India in Uttar Pradesh. I saw all this come together. The foundation, the cooperatives, the resilience and most importantly, the glue that held it together, the digital system. And it delivered,” he said.

He described this as a “proof of concept” that is both effective and scalable, urging its replication: “That’s the ecosystem we want to replicate wherever possible. That’s the ecosystem we want to steal shamelessly.”

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Collaboration Fuels Scalability

Banga stressed the need for alignment among government, businesses and development partners to sustain this model.

“But it only succeeds if government, business and development partners row in the same direction,” he noted.

India’s cooperative-driven and digitally enhanced agricultural system, supported by national policies, offers a framework to uplift millions of small farmers while ensuring food security and economic growth.