The Government of India keeps coming up with schemes for farmers from time to time and works in their interest. To this end, the government has come up with a plan for Digital Agriculture Mission to increase the income of farmers. This scheme is ready and the government has also announced it. Under this mission, Digital Agriculture Mission worth Rs 2,817 crore has been approved for creating digital public infrastructure in the agriculture sector. Digital Agriculture Mission is a scheme of the Government of India, which aims to increase the income of farmers and improve agricultural productivity by using digital technologies in the agriculture sector.
This scheme will work in the same way as UPI did. UPI has made digital payments simple and accessible. The purpose of the new scheme for farmers is to provide them with the benefits of digital services and make agricultural work more effective and modern. Schemes like Agristack, Agricultural Decision Support System and Soil Profile Maps are included in this framework. It will easily help farmers to get all the information. It will help in getting information and various types of services. Let us know how this will prove beneficial for farmers and how it will increase their income.
What is the Digital Agriculture Mission?
The Digital Farming Mission is an ambitious scheme of the Government of India, which aims to increase farmers’ income and improve agricultural productivity by using digital technologies in the agricultural sector. Through this mission, farmers in India will be provided with various agriculture-related services such as weather forecast, seed quality, pesticide usage, and market information will be made available online.
Within the framework of the Digital Agriculture Mission, three main components have been included as digital public infrastructure. These components include Agristack, an agricultural decision support system and a soil profile map.
All farmers in the country will be empowered by providing them with agricultural information and services. Along with this, work will also be done on improving agricultural productivity through advanced farming techniques, better management of water resources and increasing soil fertility so that innovation can be fostered by reducing farming costs. Apart from this, the mission also aims to create a technology-based ecosystem, the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES), which can provide accurate estimates of agricultural production.
How will farmer-centric Agristack be?
The farmer-centric Agristack DPI consists of three core registers or databases of the agriculture sector. Farmers Register, Geo-referenced Village Maps and Register of Crops Sown. These will be created and maintained by all state/union territory governments.
Farmer Registration: Farmers will be provided with an Aadhaar-like digital identity (“Farmer ID”) that can be dynamically linked to land records, livestock ownership, crops sown, population details, family information, scheme and benefit information, etc.
According to another source, pilot projects for creation of farmer ID cards are being carried out in six districts – Farrukhabad (Uttar Pradesh), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Beed (Maharashtra), Yamunanagar (Haryana), Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab) and Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu).
The Indian Express, citing sources in its report, said the government aims to create digital identity for 11 crore farmers, of which 6 crore farmers will be covered in the current financial year (2024-25) and 3 crore farmers in the next financial year. The remaining 2 crore farmers will be covered in 2025-26, and the remaining 2 crore farmers in 2026-27.
Last month, a provision of Rs 5,000 crore was made to provide incentives to states to create registers of farmers, under the ‘Special Assistance Scheme to States’ for capital infusion for 2024-25. This amount is separate from the budgetary allocations made for the Digital Farming Mission.
How will farmers benefit from this mission?
Farmers can gain many important benefits from the Digital Farming Mission, which will help them improve their productivity, income and standard of living. Through digital platforms, farmers will get real-time information about their crops, soil quality and weather. This will help them make better farming decisions, which will improve crop yield and quality.
A centralized database of farmers will be created through Farmer ID, which will include information about their land, crops and beneficiary programs. With this, farmers will be able to easily avail the benefits of government schemes and will not need any paperwork.
Crop insurance claims settlement will be more accurate and faster thanks to better data and digital tools. Also, farmers will be able to easily avail credit card-linked agricultural loans. At the same time, thanks to this scheme, farmers will get huge benefits, capital investment will increase, employment will be generated, import dependency will be reduced and farmers’ income will increase.
