Agri-digital influencers as emerging agricultural intermediaries: Case studies from Telangana

Introduction

Agricultural extension has traditionally relied on extension personnel, demonstrations, farmer meetings, mass media and other interpersonal approaches to disseminate agricultural technologies and information. However, the rapid growth of smartphones, internet connectivity and social media has created new opportunities for reaching farmers beyond conventional extension channels. Social media platforms enable agricultural information to be shared rapidly through videos, demonstrations, expert interactions, farmer experiences and online discussions (Rohila and Kumar, 2019) [4] . The increasing use of digital platforms has also changed the way farmers access and exchange agricultural knowledge. Studies have reported that farmers use platforms such as YouTube and other social media channels to seek agricultural information, share experiences and interact with other users (Joshi and Dhaliwal, 2021) [3] . In Telangana, Sandeep et al. (2022) [5] reported that more than half of the farmers perceived agricultural information received through social media as effective, with digital literacy, social media usage and participation positively associated with perceived effectiveness. Similarly, Shanmuka et al. (2022) [6] observed that social media-based agro-advisory services could support farmers information needs and contribute to the practical use of agricultural information. Within this changing communication environment, agridigital influencers are emerging as a new category of agricultural communicators. Unlike conventional extension personnel, these individuals may enter digital agricultural communication through different pathways, including farming, agricultural education, journalism, professional experience or entrepreneurship. They combine agricultural knowledge or field experience with digital storytelling, demonstrations and audience interaction to make agricultural information more accessible and relatable. Their role can extend beyond information dissemination to farmer-tofarmer learning, technology promotion, consumer awareness, direct marketing and development of farmer-market linkages. Recent work on digital agricultural extension also www.extensionjournal.com emphasises that digital channels can complement, rather than replace, conventional extension systems. Despite the growing importance of social media in agricultural communication, the individual journeys and contributions of agri-digital influencers remain relatively less documented, particularly at the regional level. Understanding who these influencers are, how they entered digital communication, what motivates their activities and how their platforms have evolved can provide useful insights for agricultural extension and rural entrepreneurship. Therefore, the present article documents five selected case studies of agri digital influencers from Telangana. Rather than assessing their effectiveness statistically, the article focuses on their personal journeys, development of digital platforms, content practices and documented contributions to farmers, consumers and agricultural enterprises.

Methodology

The article draws on the stories of five successful agri digital influencers from Telangana. The cases were chosen to represent a range of backgrounds and routes through which individuals entered into digital communication. Information was compiled from in-depth talks with the influencers and records of their digital platforms, activities, achievements and reported outcomes. The stories were organised around four broad themes: background and journey, how the digital platform grew, the main content, and communication actions and the documented contributions or outcomes. The cases are presented as narrative stories to retain the human dimension of each journey. Particular attention was given to how the influencers converted their professional or farming experience into digital communication and how their platforms grew beyond content creation. The outcomes reported in the cases are presented as documented or reported case evidence. They should not be interpreted as independently measured causal impacts of social media activity.

Case Studies 3.1 Rajender Reddy: From Journalism to Agricultural Digital Communication

Rajender Reddy, known through Telugu Rythubadi, shows how journalism can become the basis for agricultural digital communication. Coming from a farming family, he developed an early understanding of farming and the difficulties faced by farmers. He holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Computer Applications and worked as a journalist for about 12 years, focusing on rural and agricultural issues. His regular interaction with farmers gave him first-hand exposure to the difficulty of accessing timely, practical and locally relevant agricultural information. The growing reach of Telugu Rythubadi is reflected in its substantial audience, with 1.75 million subscribers on YouTube and 717 thousand followers on Instagram. In 2017, he started Telugu Rythubadi with the aim of making agricultural information more accessible to Telugu-speaking farmers. It began as a way to communicate about agriculture but grew into a digital platform. His content covers crop production, horticulture, livestock management, farm mechanisation, agricultural drones, natural farming, government schemes and farmer experiences. Rather than presenting agricultural information in a technical format, he combined field visits, expert interactions, demonstrations and farmer stories to make the information easier to understand. A key feature of the Telugu Rythubadi is connecting the digital world with physical farmer interaction. At the Rythubadi Agri Show and other farmer interaction programmes, farmers are brought together with agricultural experts, companies, start-ups and technology providers, providing an opportunity to see technologies, interact with experts and learn directly from different stakeholders. The scale of these activities is reflected in the reported attendance at the Agri Shows: 26,350 visitors at Nalgonda in 2024, 31,200 at Anantapur in 2025 and more than 40,000 at Hyderabad in 2026. His platform has demonstrated that agricultural digital communication can extend beyond information sharing. In one documented instance, the story of a banana farmer affected by heavy rains was featured on the platform, after which an overseas follower reportedly extended financial assistance to the farmer. This illustrates how digital visibility can sometimes connect farmers with forms of support that may otherwise remain outside their immediate social networks. He received the National Best Creators Award in the Agriculture Category in 2024 for his work in farming communication. He was invited to share his experience of using digital media for agricultural extension and rural development at an entrepreneurship summit hosted by IIIT Delhi. The case of Rajender Reddy shows how journalism, on-field experience and digital communication can join to build a large farming information network. His journey is notable for combining online communication with offline farmer events.

K. Shivaraj: An Agricultural Professional Responding to the Need for Reliable Digital Information

K. Shivaraj, known through his platform Rythu Palaka, represents another pathway into agricultural digital communication. His journey is rooted in formal agricultural education and professional experience. He completed his B.Sc. Agriculture from Lovely Professional University and subsequently gained experience in seed production and quality management at the National Seeds Corporation, agricultural extension activities at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, and post-harvest management and warehousing at the Central Warehousing Corporation. He is presently associated with IFFCO. The growing reach of Rythu Palaka is reflected in its substantial digital audience, with 77.8 thousand subscribers on YouTube and 600 thousand followers on Instagram. His decision to enter digital communication developed gradually. Although he initially had no specific plan to become a content creator, he supported other agricultural content creators by providing technical information. During this period, he observed that some online agricultural content was not scientifically reliable and could potentially mislead farmers. This experience encouraged him to establish Rythu Palaka as a platform for providing practical and scientifically informed agricultural information. Rythu Palaka covers scientific farming practices, safe input use, crop protection, crop production, value addition, innovative technologies, government schemes and real-time agricultural market information. In addition to farmers, the www.extensionjournal.com platform also caters to agricultural students and young professionals by sharing information on competitive examinations, scholarships, recruitment and career opportunities. A notable feature of Shivaraj's communication is his effort to present technical information in simple Telugu. Field demonstrations, expert interactions and farmer success stories are used alongside conventional information. This approach attempts to address a common challenge in digital agricultural communication-making technically correct information understandable and useful to people with different levels of agricultural knowledge. The platform has also documented instances of farmer-tofarmer support. In one case, a dairy farmer's journey was shared through the platform. According to the documented account, another dairy farmer who was inspired by the story gifted a cow worth nearly ₹1 lakh to support the featured farmer. This case illustrates a social dimension of digital agricultural communication in which farmer stories can generate encouragement and mutual support in addition to information exchange. His contribution has received recognition from academic and government institutions. His agricultural communication work has been recognised by Lovely Professional University and the Department of Agriculture, while some of his educational videos have also been used in farmer awareness programmes. The Rythu Palaka case demonstrates the potential role of agricultural professionals as digital translators of scientific information. His experience shows that professional agricultural knowledge can be combined with digital communication to address misinformation and provide farmers with accessible information.

G. Shivakumar: From Agricultural Education to

Farmer-to-Farmer Digital Learning G. Shivakumar of Shiva Agri Clinic represents a different pathway. He completed a Diploma in Agriculture and later pursued a Master of Social Work. Along with his agricultural activities, he has been involved in social service and community development through the Swami Vivekananda Seva Brundam. He started "Shiva Agri Clinic" in 2020 with the objective of making scientific and practical agricultural information accessible to farmers through digital media. Shiva Agri Clinic had 306k subscribers on YouTube and 182k Instagram followers. COVID-19 played an important role in shaping "Shiva Agri Clinic". Restrictions during the pandemic made it difficult for many farmers to access timely agricultural information and extension services. During the same period, Shivakumar observed the growing influence of digital content creation and recognised an opportunity to use his agricultural knowledge to support farmers through digital platforms. The early years were very hard, not getting attention or recognition for three years. Rather than abandoning the initiative, he continued creating content and visiting villages to interact with local, progressive and innovative farmers. Their practices, solutions and experiences were documented and shared in simple Telugu. Gradually, this farmer-centred approach helped the platform gain wider recognition among farmers, agricultural organisations and the media. One of the most notable cases documented through Shiva Agri Clinic involved a farmer using a chain rotary slasher for weed control in oil palm. The method was presented as a practical and relatively low-cost option, with the reported cost of the weed-control operation ranging from approximately ₹5,000 to ₹10,000. According to the documented case, the video was subsequently followed by the adoption of the method by more than 500 oil-palm farmers. This is reported that a farmer's field-level innovation and own experience can be a demo that reaches many other farmer communities. This case is important because the source of knowledge was not limited to a formal research institution. A farmer's own practical experience became the starting point for digital learning. The influencer functioned as a bridge-identifying the practice, documenting it and presenting it to other farmers. Shivakumar's contribution has received several forms of recognition, including the National Youth Award for 2022-23 and recognition for agricultural digital communication and farmer welfare. His work has also received attention from agricultural organisations and regional and national media. The Shiva Agri Clinic shows how farmer ideas, real-life demos and online sharing can become a path for spreading farm knowledge.

Rena Bhagyalakshmi: From Farmer to Digital Entrepreneur

The journey of Rena Bhagyalakshmi, founder of Palletooru Raithu Bidda, is particularly distinctive because it began not with formal agricultural employment or journalism, but with her own life as a farmer. She was from a farming family background and had more than four decades of farming experience. Her family initially cultivated one acre and then leased additional land for paddy cultivation and also crops such as chilli, cotton and groundnut with limited resources and financial challenges. Over time, the experience in farming helped them acquire additional agricultural land and more importantly, provided a deep understanding of the practical difficulties associated with production and marketing. The growing popularity of Palletooru Raithu Bidda is reflected in its digital audience, with 194 thousand subscribers on YouTube and 219 thousand followers on Instagram. The idea for Palletooru Raithu Bidda emerged from a simple observation, many students and urban consumers had little understanding of farming and the effort involved in producing food despite the increased usage of social media to get awareness. She and her son therefore began documenting their everyday farming activities, such as land preparation, sowing, crop management and harvesting. Their approach was to convey the reality of farming and not merely the best aspects of it. With the increase in audience, digital communication slowly transformed in to marketing opportunity. Groundnuts produced on their farm were marketed through the platform and reportedly generated more than 1,000 online orders within a short period. Encouraged by this response, the family began exploring direct marketing more systematically. They eventually started marketing home-processed chilli powder prepared from farm-grown chillies and began procuring quality turmeric and chilli from other farmers. This led to the development of FarmerProduct.in, which aimed to www.extensionjournal.com establish a direct link between farmers and consumers through value-added benefits of agricultural products. According to the documented case, the enterprise received more than 10,000 online orders over approximately two and a half years and established a retail outlet in Hanmakonda that attracted more than 5,000 walk-in customers. Direct marketing of chilli powder reportedly increased price realisation from around ₹100 per kg in the local market to around ₹150 per kg, with profits reported to be around 30 per cent for the product. The enterprise also procures chilli from more than 10 farmers and provides employment to about 15 rural workers involved in retailing, processing and packaging. This case demonstrates an important shift in the role of an agri digital influencer. Here, digital media was not used to promote awareness about agriculture, but as a tool to create a farmer-led marketing and value-addition system. The journey of Bhagyalakshmi also received recognition from the Telangana Government and agricultural departments and her farmer-to-consumer model was presented at T-Hub on the occasion of International Export Day. Her experience shows how farming experience along with authentic digital storytelling, including direct marketing, can create new opportunities for farmer entrepreneurship.

Sreedevi Patlolla: From Digital Storytelling to a Farmer-Linked Agribusiness

Sreedevi Patlolla, founder of Kalagura Gampa, represents a fifth pathway in which agricultural communication developed into a larger natural and organic food enterprise. Growing up in a farming family, she developed fascination in agriculture and rural life from an early age. She started the YouTube channel "Kalagura Gampa" in 2019. The name reflects the idea of a basket containing different things, which is also reflected in the broad range of content on the platform, including agriculture, cooking, home gardening and rural lifestyle. Kalagura Gampa has developed a significant digital following, with 666k subscribers on YouTube and 131k followers on Instagram. Agriculture remains an important component of the platform. Her content focuses on natural and organic farming, traditional agricultural knowledge, value addition, sustainable practices and healthy food. Field-based demonstrations and simple explanations are used to make agricultural information accessible. She also underwent training in natural farming, which strengthened her understanding of sustainable agricultural practices.

As the digital platform developed, it was extended into the Kalagura Gampa enterprise, which connects farmers with consumers through natural and organic products. A distinctive feature of the enterprise is its emphasis on understanding the source of products. The founders reportedly visit farmers fields, examine cultivation practices and soil conditions and preferentially source products from farmers who were following natural and organic practices. The documentation reported that over 60 per cent of the produce is sourced directly from farmers and the enterprise operates with nearly 180 suppliers and provides more than 500 natural and organic products. The enterprise reportedly grew from an initial investment of ₹80,000 to an annual turnover of nearly ₹18 crore, with approximately ₹5 crore invested towards infrastructure, providing employment opportunities to about 168 people over the year. These figures represent the documented case account provided by the enterprise and should be interpreted accordingly. Social media has remained the heart of this development. According to the case documentation, YouTube and Instagram have been used not merely for promotion but also to explain natural farming, product quality, sourcing and the journey of food from farm to consumer. The founders reported that the strong digital presence contributed to reducing the need for conventional advertising expenditure. The enterprise also follows a quality-oriented approach to supplier and customer relationships. Rather than attempting to reach every possible consumer, it focuses on customers who value natural and quality-oriented products. Similarly, suppliers are selected based on their ability to provide quality produce consistently. The case also provides a value reminder that digital entrepreneurship does not develop without challenges. The enterprise experimented with establishing a large nursery containing nearly 2,000 plant varieties, but the initiative did not yield the expected results. The experience reportedly led the founders to reconsider investment decisions and focus more strongly on their core strengths. The Kalagura Gampa case therefore illustrates the evolution of agricultural storytelling from digital to consumer trust, and then to farmer sourcing and agribusiness development.

Cross-case analysis

The five cases demonstrate that there is no single route to becoming an agri digital influencer. Each individual entered digital agricultural communication from a different starting point. The cases also highlight the importance of authenticity. Farmers success stories, failures, field demonstrations and everyday farming experiences make agricultural content more relatable. Rather than treating farmers only as recipients of information, these platforms often present farmers themselves as sources of knowledge. This is particularly visible in the case of Shiva Agri Clinic, where a farmer's innovative weed-control practice became the basis for digital dissemination. Similarly, Telugu Rythubadi uses farmer experiences and expert interactions to create a bridge between field-level knowledge and formal agricultural information. A second important observation is that the boundary between agricultural extension and agricultural entrepreneurship is becoming less distinct. Palletooru Raithu Bidda and Kalagura Gampa show how agricultural content can gradually develop into direct marketing, value addition, consumer education and farmer-linked enterprises. This suggests that agri digital influencers may contribute to multiple stages of the agricultural communication chain: Knowledge → Awareness → Demonstration → Interaction → Trust → Action → Market linkage At the same time, digital influence should not be viewed as a replacement for formal agricultural extension. Rather, these platforms can be considered a complementary communication channel that can extend the reach of agricultural knowledge and create additional opportunities for farmer interaction.

Case

Implications for Agricultural Extension

The experiences of these five influencers provide several practical lessons for agricultural extension systems. First, credible agri digital influencers can be linked with formal extension institutions to disseminate location-specific and scientifically validated information in local languages. Second, agricultural universities, KVKs and government departments can collaborate with capable digital communicators for field demonstrations, expert interviews and farmer success stories. Third, farmer innovations can be systematically documented through digital platforms. This would allow useful local practices to reach farmers beyond the village where they originated. Fourth, digital agricultural communication can also support market-oriented extension. The experiences of Palletooru Raithu Bidda and Kalagura Gampa show that digital platforms can help farmers and rural entrepreneurs communicate directly with consumers and develop valueadded products. Finally, the cases highlight the importance of maintaining accuracy, transparency and credibility. Digital reach by itself is not sufficient. Agricultural information needs to be scientifically sound, practical and appropriate to local farming conditions.

Conclusion

The five cases from Telangana show that agri digital influence is emerging from very different backgrounds but is increasingly connected by a common purpose: making agricultural knowledge, experience and opportunities more accessible through digital media. Rajender Reddy demonstrates how journalism can evolve into large-scale agricultural communication and technology linkage. K. Shivaraj shows how agricultural professional knowledge can be translated into reliable and accessible digital information. G. Shivakumar illustrates the potential of farmer innovations and field demonstrations to support farmer-to-farmer learning. Rena Bhagyalakshmi demonstrates how a farmer can use digital storytelling to www.extensionjournal.com move towards direct marketing and rural entrepreneurship. Sreedevi Patlolla shows how agricultural storytelling can develop into consumer education, farmer sourcing and a larger agribusiness enterprise. Taken together, these cases suggest that the emerging role of agri digital influencers is not limited to "sharing agricultural information." They are increasingly involved in connecting people, knowledge, technologies, experiences and markets. The significance of these influencers therefore lies not simply in the number of followers they have, but in their ability to make agricultural communication more accessible, relatable, interactive and connected to real-life farming situations. With appropriate collaboration, scientific guidance and institutional support, agri digital influencers could become a valuable complementary component of the agricultural extension ecosystem in Telangana and beyond.

References

1. Awasthi H. Krishi Updates: digital agriculture model. International Journal of Extension Education. 2024;20(1):113-116.
2. Food and Agriculture Organization. Guide on digital agricultural extension and advisory services. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization; 2023.
3. Joshi D, Dhaliwal RK. Utilization of social media by farming community: a case from Punjab State. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 2021;55(1):47-52.
4. Rohila AK, Kumar A. Social media in agricultural extension and marketing. Indian Farming. 2019;68(12).
5. Sandeep GP, Prashanth P, Sreenivasulu M, Madhavilata A. Effectiveness of agricultural information disseminated through social media. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 2022;58(2):186-190.
6. Shanmuka A, Lenin V, Sangeetha V, Muralikrishnan L, Ramasubramanian V, Arora A. Effectiveness of social media based agro advisory services in Andhra Pradesh: an analysis. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education. 2022;22(4):77-81.
7. Thakur D, Chander M. Social media in agricultural extension: benefits and challenges under Indian context. Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology. 2018;27(2):1-8.