Celebrating the United Nations Year of the International Farmer 2026, AMCHAM’s Agriculture &  Food Processing Committee organized a roundtable on ‘Leading the Next Harvest: Women in Agriculture and Food Systems’ on August 19 th in New Delhi. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, in her welcome remarks, highlighted the critical role of women across India’s agrifood value chain and called for a shift from recognition to action. She emphasized the need to bridge gaps in access to land, finance, technology, skills, markets, and leadership, while ensuring women are at the forefront of India’s evolving agricultural landscape. She spoke about the catalytic role industry can play and shared members’ initiatives. She stressed that stronger collaboration among government, industry, academia, development organizations, and farming communities is essential to drive inclusive innovation, scale solutions, and empower women to not just participate in agriculture, but lead its next harvest.

 

The panel discussion on ‘Recognizing and Advancing Women’s Participation Across Agriculture and Food Systems’ brought together diverse perspectives on moving beyond women’s participation in agriculture towards greater economic empowerment, leadership, and decision-making. The discussion highlighted the need to address structural barriers and strengthen women’s access to finance, markets, assets, technology, and future-ready skills, while ensuring that these opportunities reach women at the grassroots. Speakers also emphasized the potential of climate-smart agriculture and innovation to position women as entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders across the agrifood value chain. A strong focus was placed on collaboration between government, industry, development organizations, and farmer communities to take successful solutions beyond pilots and achieve impact at scale. Looking ahead, the panel accentuated the importance of creating an agriculture and food system where women are not only active participants, but also decision-makers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders shaping the next harvest. The panel featured Ms. Nimisha Mittal, Gender and Social Inclusion Expert, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr. Arpita Mukherjee, Professor, ICRIER, Mr. Robin Edwin, Managing Director, Mosaic India, Mr. Abhishek Srivastava, Policy and Advocacy Specialist, United Nations Development Programme, Ms. Pradnya Paithankar, Head Climate Resilience, Sustainable Food Systems and DRR, World Food Programme and was moderated by Ms. Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, Digital Green India.

 

The ‘Voices of Impact’ session, moderated by Ms. Ruchira Saini, Head Advocacy & Industry Affairs, India and South Asia, Corteva, brought inspiring perspectives from two women farmer leaders Ms. Banarasi Devi and Ms. Sujata Devi from the states of Haryana and Jharkhand respectively. It highlighted how access to information, stronger Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and collective action are transforming rural livelihoods. Their experiences showcased how FPOs can help farmers access quality inputs, procure seeds in bulk, negotiate better prices, improve productivity, strengthen market linkages, and create value-added products that generate greater returns for farming families. At the same time, challenges around branding, packaging, and market visibility remain. Their journeys underlined the importance of women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, and strong producer collectives in driving inclusive rural development and demonstrated that meaningful agricultural innovation begins by empowering the people closest to the land.

 

The compendium ‘Leading the Next Harvest: Women in Agriculture & Food Systems,’ showcasing impactful initiatives that are advancing women’s participation across India’s agricultural and food systems, was released. Featuring best practices from member companies and development partners, it highlights efforts in climate-smart agriculture, technology, entrepreneurship, livelihoods, nutrition security, water stewardship, and community leadership. Released in recognition of the United Nations International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, the compendium calls for greater investment, innovation, and public-private partnerships to scale solutions and create enabling ecosystems. It reflects AMCHAM’s commitment to strengthening U.S.–India collaboration for resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agricultural growth.

 

A fireside chat on ‘Scaling Impact Through Partnerships’ featuring Dr. Akriti Sharma, CEO, PUSA Krishi and Mr. Dhritiman Biswas, Senior Director, Government Relations – South Asia, Cargill, explored how stronger collaboration between government, industry, research and innovation institutions, development organizations, and farming communities can create meaningful and lasting opportunities for women in agriculture. The discussion highlighted the need to move women beyond participation in agricultural value chains towards becoming entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders, with greater access to technology, finance, markets, knowledge, and institutional support. Speakers emphasized the importance of partnerships in taking promising innovations from pilot to scale, while also recognizing the role of industry in providing technology, expertise, market linkages, supply- chain integration, and commercialization support. The conversation also focused on ensuring women are at the forefront of emerging opportunities in AI, digital agriculture, precision technologies, and climate-smart solutions, rather than being left behind by the next wave of agricultural transformation. Looking towards 2030, the discussion called for a more inclusive innovation ecosystem where partnerships translate into action, successful solutions reach scale, and women are empowered to shape and lead the future of India’s agriculture and food systems.