Lok Sabha Question No. 3317 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-21
Subject: Role of Digital Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Ram Kripal Yadav

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3317

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21 ST  MARCH, 2023

## ROLE OF DIGITAL AGRICULTURE

3317.  SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  agrees  with  the  view  that  digital  technology  can  play  a transformative role in modernizing our agriculture; and
- (b) if  so,  the  details of the initiatives taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government to promote digital agriculture in Patliputra, Bihar and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

(a) & (b) : Digital technologies are finding increasing use in the agricultural value system, and farmers  are  increasingly  becoming  more  informed.  The  role  of  Digital  technology  in Agriculture are as under:

- i.  The  Institutes  Agricultural  Engineering  SMD  have  taken  up  a  number  of  projects  to address different aspect of the digital agriculture such as development of sensor based equipment for application  of  farm  inputs  such  as  seed,  fertilizer,  water  and  pesticides. Promotion of the Unmanned Aerial vehicle for application of nano fertilizer and spraying is one such initiative which will help reduce the time taken to perform the operation. The institute is initiating the work on developing standard operating protocol for the UAVs in different crops and various applications.
- ii.  Digital technologies can increase productivity of the precious inputs used in agriculture, improve farm management, reduce costs of operations, and make farming more efficient and  sustainable.  Here  are  some  examples  of  the  role  of  digital  technologies  in agriculture:
- iii.  Precision  Agriculture:  Digital  technologies  such  as  Global  Positioning  System  (GPS), sensors,  drones,  and  machine  learning  algorithms  are  used  in  precision  agriculture  to monitor soil  conditions,  crop  growth,  and  weather  patterns. This  information  is  used  to optimize planting, fertilizing, and harvesting, reducing waste, and increasing yields. Farm mechanisation, irrigation, post-harvest storage and value addition are being transformed by  the  digital  technologies.  Precision  planting  machines,  micro-irrigation  systems  and

O.I.H.

- grading and classification machines (color sorter for rice, fruit and vegetable sorters and graders), non-destructive machines for quality evaluation are some of the examples.
- iv.  Climate-smart Agriculture: Digital technologies are being used to develop climate-smart agriculture  practices  that  can  help  farmers  adapt  to  climate  change.  For  example, farmers can use weather forecasts and data analytics to optimize irrigation, planting, and harvesting, reducing the impact of droughts and floods.
- v.  New  technologies  such  as  robotic  harvesters,  vertical  farming,  and  blockchain-based supply chain management systems that improve efficiency and reduce waste have been possible due to digital technologies.
- vi.  Further, Government has taken various measures to provide access to technology and information across the country, which are given below:
- a. Under plan scheme viz. National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) wherein, funds are released to the State(s)/UT(s) for project involving  use  of  modern technologies viz. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotics, Drones, Data  Analytics,  Block  Chain  etc.  Government  has  sanction  the  project  under  this scheme during last 03 years for the state of Bihar for Digital Package of Practices for Major  Crops  and  Automation  Technique  in  Irrigation  in  State  Seed  Multiplication Farms.
- b. Digital  Public  Infrastructure  (DPI)  for  agriculture  is  being  implemented  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. It includes:

## i.  Development of Central Core of the DPI

-  Registries (Farmers, Crop Sown registry and Geo Referencing of Village Maps and Crop Sown Registry)
-  Unified Farmers Service Interface
-  Agri Data Exchange

## ii. Development of Krishi Decision Support System (KDSS)

- c. Sub  Mission  on  Agricultural  Mechanization  (SMAM)  is  being  implemented  w.e.f April,2014.The scheme aims at 'reaching the unreached' by bringing to the small and marginal  farmers  in  the  core  and  giving  the  benefits  of  farm  mechanization,  by Promoting  'Custom  Hiring  Centers'  ,  creating  hubs  for  hi-tech  &  high  value  farm equipments, distribution of various agricultural equipments, creating awareness among stakeholders  through  demonstration  and  capacity  building  activities,  and  ensuring performance- testing and certification at designated testing centers located all over the country.
- d. National  Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM)  is  a  pan-India  electronic  trading  portal  which networks  the  existing  Agricultural  Produce  Market  Committee  (APMC)  mandis  to create  a  unified  national  market  for  agricultural  commodities.  Digital  services  are provided to traders, farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO), Mandis through various modules of e-NAM platform such as FPO trading module, warehouse based trading module.
- e. Under PM KISAN Scheme, fund is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the eligible  farmers  under  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  mode.  Farmers  can  do  their  selfregistration  through  the  Farmers  Corner  in  the  portal.  PM-KISAN  Mobile  App  was launched  to  broaden  the  reach  of  the  scheme  where  farmers  can  view  beneficiary status, update or carry out corrections of name based on their Aadhaar card and also they can see history of benefits transferred to their bank accounts.
- f.  Integrated  Scheme  for  Agricultural  Marketing  schemes  (AGMARKNET)  to  promote creation of agricultural marketing infrastructure by providing backend subsidy support to  State,  cooperative  and  private  sector  investments  Services  are  provided  through (AGMARKNET) portal which is a G2C e-governance portal that caters to the needs of various stakeholders such as farmers, industry, policy makers  and academic institutions  by  providing  agricultural  marketing  related  information  from  a    single window. It facilitates web-  based information flow, of the daily arrivals and prices of commodities in the agricultural produce markets spread across the country.
- g. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF): To mobilize a medium - long term debt finances facility  for  investment  in  viable  projects  for  post-harvest  management  Infrastructure and  community  farming  assets  through  incentives  and  financial  support  in  order  to improve  agriculture  infrastructure  in  the  country.  Financial  assistance  is  provided digitally  in  the form of Interest Subvention and Credit Guarantee for setting up postharvest management  Infrastructure to beneficiaries such as Farmers, Primary Agricultural  Credit  Societies  (PACS),  Farmer  Producers  Organisations  (FPOs),  Self Help Groups (SHG), State Agencies/APMCs.
- h. National  Mission  on  Horticulture:  It  Promotes  holistic  development  of  Horticulture sector (including bamboo & coconut) HORTNET project is a web enabled work flowbased system for providing financial assistance under MIDH. It is a unique intervention to accomplish e-Governance in NHM where-in total transparency has been envisaged in all the processes of workflow i.e., online application filing, authentication, processing and online payment to the beneficiary's bank account through DBT.
- i.  National Project on Soil Health and Fertility: To issue soil health cards to farmers of the  country,  so  as  to  provide  a  basis  to  address  nutrient  deficiencies  in  fertilization practices. Soil Health Card Portal is available where farmers can track soil samples.
- j.  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.
- k. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has also compiled more than 100 mobile  apps  developed  by  ICAR,  State  Agricultural  Universities  and  Krishi  Vigyan Kendras 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.
- l.  Further,  Government  of  Bihar  has  informed  that  the  following  initiatives  have  been taken by the state  Government towards digital agriculture:
- Providing digital identity to farmers.
- Creation of single platform for farmer registration, subsidy application, verification.
- One-time farmer  registration  using  Aadhaar  for  marinating  data  integrity,  farmer authenticity and establishing verification status of such farmers (Aadhaar Consent taken).
- Usage of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to farmers in the schemes.
- Transfer of  subsidy  of  DBT  Schemes  in  Aadhaar-NPCI  linked  and  seeded  bank accounts of farmers.
- Status of Applications is on open web-portal and is transparent.
- Dissemination  of  SMS  of  farmers  regarding  their  registration,  subsidy  scheme application, and regarding status of the application.
- Limited manual interventions during the subsidy application life-cycle.
- Digital monitoring on the application from Headquarter level.
- Each and every application catered is being accounted for.
- Availability of Verification module on web-portal as well as on mobile android apps for faster processing of applications.

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