Kheyti, a Hyderabad-based agri-tech social enterprise, has said that the state governments in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and NABARD have adapted its low-cost protected cultivation model.

A media statement said that Kheyti re-engineered the conventional greenhouse into a low-cost protected cultivation structure that costs a fraction of a standard greenhouse and is sized for a small farmer’s plot, paired with AI-powered advisory delivered through field agronomists and a mobile decision-support tool.

After proving the model directly with more than 7,000 farmers across eight states, Kheyti has begun working alongside state governments and central institutions to carry it to the millions of smallholder farmers they aim to reach, it said.

Shade-net design

On March 7, 2026, the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare wrote to state horticulture mission directors across the country, asking them to consider promoting low-cost protected cultivation for small and marginal farmers.

The statement said the advisory cited a technical evaluation by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, which assessed Kheyti’s low-cost shade net design and found it ‘very much cost effective’, ‘well designed and safe’, and that it ‘can be recommended for the farmers’.

Citing the institute, the statement said: “Low cost, small-sized net-house models may be included in the protected cultivation schemes under MIDH.”

Quoting Saumya, Co-founder and Head of Public and Government Partnerships, Kheyti, the statement said: “India’s state governments and NABARD have shown over the past two years that climate resilience for smallholder farmers is solvable -- when the model is built end-to-end for smallholder economics, and when public institutions choose to put their delivery capacity behind it. Kheyti’s role is to democratize the technology, and provide farmers with AI-driven advisory to ensure their success.”

Published on June 24, 2026