Launch of Rs 2800 crore Digital Agri Mission part of govt’s agenda for first 100 days
Meanwhile, the Agriculture ministry started various pilot projects and activities across several states, which are part of the mission.
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In some of the states, generation of farmer unique ID has already begun, the sources added. (File Photo)In a push to the rural and agriculture sector under Modi 3.0, the Centre is set to announce big ticket initiatives as part of its first 100-day agenda, which include a Rs 2,800 crore Digital Agriculture Mission. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to release the 17th instalment under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi from his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, on June 18.
The Indian Express has learnt that the Digital Agriculture Mission will pave the way for creation of a nationwide farmers registry, crop sown registry, and georeferencing of village maps. It is also learnt that the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to clear a proposal of this effect “very soon”.
A budgetary allocation of Rs 28,00 crore has been made for the mission and it will be rolled out over the next two years (till 2025-26). The launch of the mission was initially planned in 2021-22 but due to Covid-19 outbreak, it could not be rolled out nationally, said a source.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture ministry started various pilot projects and activities across several states, which are part of the mission.
One of the components of the mission is to create a farmers’ registry, in which every farmer will be given a unique ID, the sources said. In some of the states, generation of farmer unique ID has already begun, the sources added.
As per the sources, a pilot project has been undertaken across 6 districts — Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, Beed in Maharashtra, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab, and Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu.
The sources said that Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have already started generation of farmers’ ID. In Farrukhabad, the UP government has already generated unique IDs for over 1.5 lakh farmers. The unique farmer ID will allow launch of new value-added services and farmers will be able to avail various government schemes including PM-Kisan and Fasal Bima Yojana through this ID. It will also enable them to avail financial services like farm loans and insurance.
The mission also envisages a crop sown registry. This will have a record of crops sown by a farmer on his land. It will help better planning and estimation of crop production.
Last year, the Centre had asked the States and Union Territories (UTs) to automate/ digitise the process of area enumeration/girdawari of crops at field level by adopting Digital Crop Survey from July 2024.
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