Lok Sabha Question No. 999 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-13
Subject: Agristack Project
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Ritesh Pandey, Jayadev Galla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 999

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 13 TH  DECEMBER, 2022

## AGRISTACK PROJECT

## 999.   SHRI RITESH PANDEY: SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री

- (a) the status on the finalizing India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) report by High Level Task Force, the framework required for creating/implementing Agristack in the country and the status on development of Agristack;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  is  seeking  consultation  from  stakeholders  for  the  effective development of Agristack, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  entered  into  agreements  with  private  companies  for establishing 'Agristack' and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  provide  access  to  the  States  of  aggregated databases to be built under Agristack and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has established any data sharing mechanism with companies under MoUs, if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to address the concerns raised by experts over the potential threat of privacy and data exploitation; and
- (f) the number of Technology/Agri-tech/Start-Up companies with whom the Government has signed the MoUs to develop Proof of Concepts (PoCs) for Agristack?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) & (b): The Department has commenced the work for creating Agristack in the country. In order  to  create  Agristack,  the  department  has  finalized  the  core  concept  of  'India  Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)' which lays down a framework for Agristack. For  this, a Task Force was constituted and in furtherance, a concept paper on IDEA was prepared and comments  were  invited  from  subject  experts,  farmers,  Farmer  Producer  Organisations (FPOs) and general public.
- (c): No Sir.
- (d): Agristack is a federated structure and ownership of data is with the States only.

(e): Access to federated Farmers' database is with Government only. No private company is involved in developing the federated Farmers' database. As of now, the federated database is  being  built  by  taking  the  publicly  available  data  as  existing  in  the  Department  and  in various data silos in Government.

(f):  Memorandum  of  Understandings  (MoUs)  for  Proof  of  Concepts  (PoCs)  with  various companies for development of use cases have been signed and accordingly carried out. The details of these MoU/Agreements are at Annexure.

Details of MoU entered by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare with leading  Technology/Agri-tech/StartUp  companies  to  develop  Proof  of  Concepts (PoCs):

|   S No | Name of the Company                                                             | Focus Area                                                                                                                                                    |
|--------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd                                                        | for consolidating agri ecosystem across the value chain (farm to fork) to empower the farmer using Data Analytics in 100 villages.                            |
|      2 | ESRI India Technologies Limited                                                 | for Establishment & Launch of 'Nation Agriculture Geo Hub' and for using their 'ArcGIS' platform enabling a GIS layer over Farmers' Database.                 |
|      3 | Amazon Web Services India                                                       | for digital services across the agri value chain and creating an innovation ecosystem around digital agriculture                                              |
|      4 | Star Agribazaar Technology Private limited                                      | for collaborating with Department of Agriculture for a pilot project to promote digital agriculture                                                           |
|      5 | Patanjali Organic Research Institute Private Limited                            | for farm management and farmers service                                                                                                                       |
|      6 | JIO Platforms Ltd                                                               | for taking up primary intervention module, i.e., advisory (basic as well as advanced) service in first phase                                                  |
|      7 | ITC Limited                                                                     | for building a Customized 'Site Specific Crop Advisory' service and Digitization of Dairy Value Chain and support Wheat crop operations                       |
|      8 | Cisco Commerce India Pvt Ltd                                                    | for conceptualizing a Proof of Concept in effective knowledge sharing between farmers, administration, academia and industry                                  |
|      9 | NCDEX e-Markets Ltd (NeML)                                                      | for a digital marketplace to contribute effectively towards increasing the income of farmers and improve farm efficiency/efficiency of the Agriculture sector |
|     10 | Ninjacart - 63Ideas Infolabs Pvt Ltd                                            | for developing and hosting the Agri Marketplace Platform                                                                                                      |
|     11 | Artificial Intelligence Unit of National Entrepreneurship Network (Wadhwani AI) | Scale the Pest Management Solution for Cotton Farmers to about 50,000 lead farmers and 500000+ cascade farmers in 2022 Kharif season. Create AI/ML solution.  |

*****