Lok Sabha Question No. 2157 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-14
Subject: Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Raghu Ramakrishna Raju Kanumuru, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Bhola Singh, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2157 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 14 TH  MARCH, 2023

## DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AGRICULTURE

2157.  SHRI KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY: DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR: SHRI BHOLA SINGH: SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO: DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY: SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR: SHRI MANNE SRINIVAS REDDY: SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA): SHRI KANUMURU RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU: SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has proposed to build digital public infrastructure for agriculture as an open source, open standard and inter-operable public good to enable inclusive farmer centric solutions and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  set  up  an  Agriculture  Accelerator  Fund  in  the country with the aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for the farmers;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the other steps being taken by the Government to transform agricultural practices, increase productivity and profitability to the farmers in the country; and
- (f)  whether  the  Government  will  launch  an  Atmanirbhar  Clean  Plant  Programme  to  boost availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high value horticultural crops and if so, the other steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (a) &  (b):  Yes,  Government  has  proposed  to  build  Digital  Public  Infrastructure  (DPI)  for agriculture  as  an  open  source,  open  standard  and  inter-operable  public  good  to  enable

inclusive farmer centric solutions and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups. In this regard, following initiatives have been proposed:

- i. Development of Central Core of the DPI
2.  Registries  (Farmers,  Crop  Sown  registry  and  Geo  Referencing  of  Village  Maps  and Crop Sown Registry)
3.  Unified Farmers Service Interface
4.  Agri Data Exchange
5.  Consent Manager
- ii. Development of Krishi Decision Support System (KDSS)

(c) & (d): Yes. Government has proposed to set up Agriculture Accelerator Fund from financial year 2023-24. Under this scheme, it is planned to provide funding and technical support for selected  high  impact  and  scalable  product  &  technologies  of  startup  for  scaling  up  their operations.

The accelerator fund will  help  in  bringing  solutions  to  farmers  through  value  addition  to  the agricultural produce, better supply chain and market linkages, etc.

(e):  The  government  has  taken  various  steps  to  transform  agricultural  practices,  increase productivity and profitability to the farmers in the country. The details are given at Annexure.

(f): Yes, Government of India has launched the Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme to boost availability  of  disease  free,  quality  planting  material  of  high  value  horticultural  crops.  The program has an outlay of Rs. 2200 Crores for an initial period of 7 years (2023-30).

As  per  the  strategy,  Government  has  adopted  and  implemented  several  policies,  reforms, developmental  programmes  and  schemes  to  transform  agricultural  practices,  increase productivity and profitability to the farmers in the country. These include:

## 1.  Income support to farmers through PM KISAN

Launch of PM-KISAN in 2019 -an income support scheme providing Rs. 6000  per year in 3 equal installments. More than Rs. 2.4 lakh crore has been released   to 11 Crore eligible farmer families, till now.

## 2.  Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY)

Six year - PMFBY was launched in 2016 addressing problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping. In past 6 Years of implementation 38 crore farmer applications has been enrolled and over 11.73 crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims. During this period nearly Rs. 25,185 crore were paid by farmers  as  their  share  of  premium  against  which  claims  of  over  Rs.  1,24,223  crore (Provisional)  have  been  paid  to  them. Thus  for  every  100  rupees  of  premium  paid  by farmers, they have received about  Rs. 493  as claims.

## 3.  Institutional credit for agriculture sector

i. Increased  from  Rs.  8.5  lakh  crore  in  2015-16  with  a  target  to  reach  Rs.18.5 lakh crore in 2022-23.

ii. Benefit of concessional institutional credit through KCC at 4% interest per annum has also now been extended to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries farmers for meeting their short-term working capital needs.

iii. A special drive has been undertaken since February 2020 to provide concessional institutional credit with focus on covering all PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan  Credit  Cards  (KCC).  As  on  11.11.2022,  376.97 lakh  new  KCC  applications  have been sanctioned with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 4,33,426 crore as part of the drive.

## 4.  Fixing  of  Minimum  Support  Price  (MSP)  at  one-and-a  half  times  the  cost  of production -

i. Government  has  increased  the  MSP  for  all  mandated  Kharif,  Rabi  and  other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from 2018-19.

ii. MSP for Paddy (common) has increased to Rs. 2040 per quintal in 2022- 23 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14.

iii. MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 2125 per quintal in 2022-23.

## 5.  Promotion of organic farming in the country

i. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated in 2015-16 to promote organic farming in the country. 32384 clusters have been formed and an area of 6.53 lakh hectare  has  been  covered  benefitting  16.19  lakh  farmers.  In  addition,  Under  Namami Gange  Programme  123620  hectare  area  covered  and  under  natural  farming  4.09  lakh hectare area covered. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand have taken- up organic farming on either side of the river Ganga to control river water pollution as well as to fetch additional income to farmers.

ii. Government  also  proposes  to  promote  sustainable  natural  farming  systems through the scheme Bhartiya Prakratik Krishi Padhati (BPKP). The proposed scheme aims at  cutting  down  cost  of  cultivation,  enhancing  farmer's  income  and  ensuring  resource conservation and, safe  and healthy soils, environment and food.

iii. Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region  (MOVCDNER) has been launched. 379 Farmer Producer  Companies have been formed comprising of 189039 farmers and covering 172966 hectare area.

## 6.  Per Drop More Crop

Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme was launched in the year 2015-16 which aims to increase  water  use  efficiency,  reducing  cost  of  inputs  and  increasing  productivity  at  the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies i.e. drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. So far, an area of 69.55 lakh hectare has been covered under Micro irrigation through the PDMC scheme from the year 2015-16.

## 7.  Micro Irrigation Fund

A Micro Irrigation Fund of initial corpus Rs 5000 crore has been created with NABARD. In the  Budget  Announcement  for  2021-22,  the  corpus  of  the  fund  is  to  be  increased  to Rs.10000  crores.  Projects  worth  Rs  4710.96  crore  covering  17.09  lakh  hectares  have been approved.

## 8.  Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)

i.  To bring scales of economy to agricultural operations a new Central Sector Scheme for Formation & Promotion of new 10,000 FPOs was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister on 29 th  February, 2020 with budget outlay of Rs 6865 crore till 2027-28.

- ii.  As on 31.10.2022, 3855 no. of FPOs have been registered under new FPO  scheme.
9. A National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020  as  part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan  to increase productivity of crops through pollination  and  increase  in  honey  production  as  an  additional  source  of  income. Rs. 500 crore  for  the  period  2020-2021  to  2022-2023  has  been  allocated  for beekeeping sector. 114 projects for assistance of about Rs. 139.23 crores, approved/ sanctioned for funding under NBHM during 2020-21 & 2021-22 till date.

## 10.  Agricultural Mechanization

Agricultural  mechanization  is  an  extremely  vital  to  modernize  agriculture  and  reduce drudgery  of farming operations. During the period from 2014-15  to March, 2022 an amount of Rs.5490.82 crore have been allocated for agricultural mechanization. 13,88,314 numbers of machines and equipments have been provided to farmers on subsidy basis. 18,824 custom hiring centers,  403 high-tech hubs and 16,791 farm machinery banks have been established to make available agricultural machines and equipments to the farmers on rental basis.  During  the  current  year  i.e.  2022-23,  so  far  an  amount  of  Rs.  504.43 crores  have  been  released  for  distribution  of  around  65302  machines on  subsidy, establishment  of  2804  CHCs,  12  Hi-tech  hubs  and  1260  Village  Level  Farm  Machinery Banks.

## 11.  Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers

Soil Health Card Scheme was introduced in the year 2014-15 to optimize usage  of nutrients. The following numbers of cards have been issued to farmers;

- i. Cycle-I (2015 to 2017) - 10.74 crore
- ii. Cycle-II (2017 to 2019)- 11.97 crore
- iii. Model Village Programme (2019-20)- 19.64 lakh

## 12.  Setting up of National Agriculture Market ( e-NAM) extension Platform

- i.  1260  mandis of  22  States  and  03  UTs  have  been  integrated  to  e-NAM  platform.
- ii.  As  on  31.10.2022,  more  than  1.74  crore  Farmers  &  2.36  Lakh  traders have  been registered on e-NAM portal.
- iii. Total  volume  of  6.5  crore  MT  &  19.24  crore  numbers  (bamboo,  betel leaves,  coconut, lemon  &  sweet  corn)  collectively  worth  approximately  Rs.  2.22  lakh  crore  of  trade  has been  recorded  on  e-NAM  platform  as  on   31.10.2022.
13.  Launch of the National Mission for Edible Oils - Oil Palm NMEO has been approved with a total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore. This will bring an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare under Oil Palm plantation with 3.28 lakh hectare in the north- eastern states and 3.22 lakh hectare in the rest of India in the next 5 years. The major focus of the Mission is to provide Viability Prices of fresh fruit  bunches  (FFBs)  to  the  farmers  linked with  assured procurement by industry with a simpler price fixing formula. The Central Government will compensate farmers through a viability gap payment if price paid by industry is below the viability price upto October, 2037.

## 14.  Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

Since  inception  of  AIF  in  the  year  2020,  the  scheme  has  sanctioned  an  amount of Rs.13681  crore  worth  agriculture  infrastructure  in  the  country  for  more  than  18133 projects. With the support of the scheme, various agriculture infrastructures were created and some of the infrastructure are at the final stage of completion. These infrastructures include 8076 warehouses, 2788 primary processing units, 1860 custom hiring centres, 937 sorting & grading units, 696 cold store projects, 163 assaying units and around 3613 other kinds of post- harvest management projects and community farming assets.

## 15.  Improvement in farm produce logistics, Introduction of Kisan Rail.

Kisan Rail has been launched by Ministry of Railways to exclusively cater to movement of perishable  agrihorti  commodities.  First  Kisan  Rail  was  started  in  July  2020.  Till  31 st October, 2022, 2359 services on 167 routes have been operated.

## 16.  MIDH - Cluster Development Programme:

The  Cluster  Development  Programme  (CDP)  is  designed  to  leverage  geographical specialisation of horticulture clusters and promote integrated and market-led development of  pre-production,  production,  post-harvest,  logistics, branding,  and  marketing  activities. DA&FW has identified 55 horticulture clusters,  of which 12 have been selected for the pilot phase of the CDP.

## 17. Creation of a Start-up Eco system in agriculture and allied sector

So  far,  1055  Startups  during  FY  2019-20  to  2022-23  have  been  finally  selected by different  knowledge  partners  and  agribusiness  incubators  of  DA&FW.  A  total of  Rs.

6317.91  lakhs  grants-in-aid  has  been  released  for  funding  to these  Startups  to  the respective  Knowledge  Partners  (KPs)  &  RKVY  RAFTAAR  Agri  Business  Incubator  (RABIs) as grants-in-aid support by DA&FW.

## 18. Achievement in Export of Agri and Allied Agri- Commodities

The country has witnessed emphatic growth in export of agri and allied commodities. As compared to the year 2015-16, the Agri and allied export has increased from 32.81 billion USD in 2015-16 to 50.24 billion USD in 2021-22 i.e. an increase of 53.1%.

## 19. Digital Initiative to modernize agriculture such as:

- i. Development of Kisan Suvidha mobile application to facilitate dissemination of information to farmers on the critical parameters viz., Weather; Market Prices; Plant Protection; input Dealers  (Seed,  Pesticide,  Fertilizer)  Farm  Machinery;  Soil  Health  Card;  Cold  Storages &Godowns, Veterinary Centres and Diagnostic Labs. With market information, farmers are better  informed  about  markets  to  sell  produce,  prevailing  market  prices  and  quantity demanded in the market. Thus, they can make informed decisions to sell produce at the right price and right time.
- ii. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has also compiled various mobile apps developed by ICAR, State Agricultural Universities and KrishiVigyanKendras and uploaded on its website. These mobile apps developed in the areas of crops, horticulture, veterinary, dairy,  poultry,  fisheries,  natural  resources  management  and  integrated  subjects,  offer valuable  information  to  the  farmers,  including  package  of  practices,  market  prices  of various commodities, weather related information, advisory services, etc.
- iii. Launching of e-National Agriculture Market initiative to provide farmers an electronic online trading platform.
- iv. Use of space technology for various programmes/areas such as Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land-based Observations project, Coordinated  programme  on  Horticulture  Assessment  and  Management  using  geoinformatics  project,  National  Agricultural  Drought  Assessment  and  Monitoring  System, Rice-fallow  Area  Mapping  and  Intensification,  geo  tagging  of  infrastructure  and  assets created under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, and Crop Insurance.

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