On the occasion of Kisan Diwas 2025, ITC launched ‘Mitti Mera Desh – Tales from the Heartland’, a storytelling initiative that documents farmer experiences emerging from the company’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) programme. The campaign aligns with the Government of India’s ‘Meri Maati Mera Desh’ initiative and is positioned within the broader context of India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
The series presents farmer narratives drawn from ITC’s agri value chains, focusing on how climate-smart interventions are shaping resilience at the grassroots level. Anchored in human-centred storytelling, the campaign highlights outcomes linked to regenerative practices, climate adaptation, and improved agronomic approaches.
The CSA programme forms a central pillar of ITC’s agri strategy, addressing climate variability and environmental risks through practices such as regenerative agriculture, climate-resilient crop varieties, mechanisation, and nature-based solutions. The programme spans crops including wheat, rice, soybean, onion, fruits, and spices, and promotes techniques such as zero tillage, direct-seeded rice, raised-bed planting, mulching, and alternate wetting and drying. During 2024–25, CSA interventions benefited approximately 1.2 million farmers across 3.2 million acres in 19 states, with a stated target of covering 4 million acres by 2030.
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In parallel, ITC has been working on the Climate Smart Village (CSV) model, which currently covers 7,000 villages across 12 states. The framework integrates Climate Smart Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Livelihood Diversification, and Institutional Support to enhance village-level resilience. Soil health initiatives form a key component of this approach, with interventions including composting, zero tillage, soil fertility mapping, biofertiliser adoption, and catchment treatment to improve soil organic carbon.
The company has also extended CSA-led interventions to women in agriculture through programmes such as Women Farmer Field Schools, Krishi Sakhis, and Women Agri Business Centres. During 2024–25, scientific and technological best practices were disseminated to over 1.8 lakh women, aimed at strengthening participation and resilience across agri value chains.
As part of its NextGen Agriculture roadmap, ITC continues to expand ITCMAARS, its phygital agri ecosystem. Operating across 11 states, the platform currently engages 2.2 million+ farmers, 2,050+ farmer producer organisations (FPOs), and over 100 partners. ITCMAARS integrates digital advisories, AI/ML-based tools, market linkages, credit access, and services such as drones, IoT, and irrigation solutions. Pilot outcomes indicate up to 30% higher farmer returns and 15–20% yield improvements, with a 2030 target of supporting 10 million farmers and 4,000 FPOs.
The campaign also reflects ITC’s focus on expanding its Value-Added Agri Products (VAAP) portfolio across categories such as spices, wheat-based products, coffee, processed fruits and vegetables, shrimp, and medicinal plant extracts. The approach aims to strengthen traceable, demand-led value chains and link Indian farmers to global markets.
‘Mitti Mera Desh – Tales from the Heartland’ forms part of ITC’s wider ‘Nation First’ narrative, which has previously been articulated through campaigns including Desh Ek Raag, Desh: Inn Haathon Se Ban Raha Bharat, and ITC: India Inspired.
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