Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan participated in the BRICS Agricultural Ministers' Meeting 2026 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on Friday, June 12, 2026, taking part in a ministerial dialogue focused on small and marginal farmers, women, and youth under the theme of securing the future of food security.

Context

The ministerial dialogue, held under the BRICS 2026 framework, brought together agriculture ministers from BRICS member states to coordinate positions on food security, rural development, and inclusive agricultural growth. The session's stated focus — small and marginal farmers, women, and youth — reflects a deliberate broadening of the BRICS agriculture agenda beyond trade facilitation toward social inclusion and livelihood security.

Indore, a commercial and agricultural hub in Madhya Pradesh, served as the venue, continuing India's pattern of hosting high-profile multilateral events in its major cities. The choice of Indore also carries symbolic weight, given the city's role as an economic centre in a state where agriculture remains a dominant livelihood.

Policy Backdrop

India's domestic agricultural policy has long centred on the vulnerabilities of small and marginal farmers, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the country's farm households. The National Policy for Farmers, 2007, explicitly identified this group as priority beneficiaries for credit, insurance, and technology support — a framework that successive governments have built upon.

Within the BRICS agriculture cooperation track, India participated in the 2021 BRICS Summit agriculture ministers' dialogue, which focused on sustainable farming and food security cooperation. The 2026 meeting in Indore represents a continuation and expansion of that track, with the inclusion of women and youth as distinct policy constituencies signalling an evolution in the grouping's agenda.

Minister Chouhan, as a former four-term Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, brings direct state-level agricultural governance experience to this multilateral forum, having overseen farm policy in one of India's largest agrarian states for over a decade.

Stakeholders and Impact

The dialogue's three focal groups — small and marginal farmers, women farmers, and rural youth — together represent the most economically vulnerable segments of India's agrarian economy. Women perform a substantial share of agricultural labour in India yet have historically had limited access to land titles, credit, and institutional support.

Rural youth, meanwhile, face structural pressures including land fragmentation and limited non-farm employment, making their engagement with agriculture a long-term food security concern for all BRICS economies. A coordinated ministerial-level dialogue on these groups signals that member states are seeking to align domestic inclusion agendas with multilateral food security commitments.

For India specifically, the platform offers an opportunity to project its smallholder-centric policy experience — including schemes for farm credit, crop insurance, and direct income support — as a model for broader BRICS cooperation.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to any outcome documents, joint communiqués, or working group mandates that emerge from the BRICS Agricultural Ministers' Meeting 2026. Such documents typically set the agenda for technical-level cooperation in the months that follow and can shape member states' positions at broader multilateral forums including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

India's hosting of this dialogue in Indore also positions the country as a proactive agenda-setter within BRICS on food security — a role that carries weight as global supply chains continue to face pressure from climate variability and geopolitical disruptions. The outcomes of this meeting could inform India's domestic policy priorities for smallholder support in the coming agricultural seasons.