Green fuels, electric tractors and CBG in focus
Delivering the keynote at the inaugural session, Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, urged industry to prioritise green fuels and electrification in farm machinery. “Over the next 5–10 years, we should shift our technologies towards green fuels whether electrically operated tractors or machines running on CBG (compressed biogas) available from rural CBG plants,” he said, stressing lower maintenance and operational costs for farmers.
The Secretary said government schemes will increasingly prioritise green-fuel technologies and invited Italian and other foreign partners to collaborate on sustainable mechanisation solutions that are affordable and scalable.
Gender-friendly equipment and Vision 2047
Dr. Chaturvedi highlighted the need for gender-sensitive design, asking manufacturers to produce equipment that reduces the drudgery of women farmers. He noted the United Nations’ declaration of 2026 as the International Year of Women Farmers and called for concrete design changes both manual and motorised that genuinely lessen physical workload.
Industry voices and farm-as-a-service models
Speakers at the event emphasised both mechanisation and novel business models. T.R. Kesavan, Chairman of the EIMA organising committee and Group President at TAFE, underlined the potential of agriculture-as-a-service to make advanced equipment accessible. “Farmers may not need to buy specialized machines used briefly each season; services can bridge that gap,” he said, pointing to on-demand mechanisation as a cost-effective alternative.
Subroto Geed, Co-Chairman of FICCI’s National Agriculture Committee, stressed improving productivity through modern inputs, better seeds and mechanisation supported by technology and progressive reforms to build resilience across the value chain.
Global collaboration and sector outlook
Italian representatives were upbeat about deeper bilateral collaboration. Antonio Bartoli, Ambassador of Italy to India, signalled plans to strengthen agricultural engagement, and Simona Rapastella of FederUnacoma cited an Italian Trade Agency report forecasting robust growth in India’s agricultural equipment market to 2033.
The event also served as a commercial platform: over 100 foreign buyers from Asia and Africa attended, and organisers released the FICCI-PwC report “Farm Mechanisation: The Path Towards a Future-Ready India”. Exhibitors showcased solutions across tillage, sowing, irrigation, crop protection and harvesting including prototypes and electric-drive systems.
Participation, outcomes and next steps
The exhibition recorded broad engagement: some 20,000 farmers mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Odisha attended, alongside more than 4,000 dealers and distributors. The scale of participation underlined market interest in mechanisation and green technologies.
Organisers signalled that ideas discussed at EIMA from electric tractors and CBG-powered equipment to farm-as-a-service and gender budgeting will feed into policy dialogues. The 10th edition of EIMA is scheduled in Italy next year, promising continued India-Italy cooperation in agri-machinery and sustainable farming.
