Lok Sabha Question No. 118 (STARRED), answered on 2021-07-27
Subject: Creation of National Farmers Database
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Jayadev Galla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 118

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  27 TH  JULY, 2021

## CREATION OF NATIONAL FARMERS DATABASE

## *118.     SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  engaged  with  private  companies  to  develop  India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture and implement pilot projects;
- (b) if so, the companies with which the Government has entered into MoUs for digitizing agriculture records along with the details of MoUs;
- (c) whether the MoUs involve sharing land records of farmers with private companies;
- (d) if so, the details of protection provided for sharing such data with private companies alongwith criteria based on which these companies were chosen;
- (e) whether the Government aims to create a National Farmers Database and whether the digitized land records will be used to create such database and if so, the details thereof;
- (f) the measures proposed to be taken by the Government to include 'landless farmers' in the database; and
- (g) whether the Government will use this database for choosing beneficiaries of schemes of the Government, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI NARENDRA  SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (g): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (g)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  118  DUE FOR REPLY ON 27 th  JULY, 2021.

(a): The  Department  has  commenced  the  work  for  creating  Agristack  in  the  country.  In order  to  create  Agristack,  the  department  is  in  the  process  of  finalising  'India  Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)' which will lay down a framework for Agristack. Accordingly, a Task Force has been constituted and in furtherance a Concept Paper on IDEA has already been floated for comments from the general public not only through department's website but also through emails especially to subject matter specialists, Agro-Industry, Farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).The IDEA would help in laying down the architecture for the Agri-stack  in  the  country  and  that  would  serve  as  a  foundation  to  build  innovative  agrifocused  solutions  leveraging  emerging  technologies  to  contribute  effectively  in  creating  a better  Ecosystem  for  Agriculture  in  India.  This  Ecosystem  shall  help  the  Government  in effective planning towards increasing the income of farmers in particular and improving the efficiency of the Agriculture sector as a whole. As a first step in this direction Government has already initiated building federated farmers' database that would serve as the core of the envisaged Agristack.

No  private  sector  companies  are  involved  as  far  as  building  of  the  Agristack  is concerned.  However,  leading Technology/Agri-tech/StartUp  companies  were  identified  and invited  to  collaborate  with  the  Government  of  India  to  develop  Proof  of  Concepts  (PoC) based on small portions of data from the federated Farmers' database for certain identified areas  (Districts/Village).  A  public  call  through  the  Department's  website  has  been  placed inviting  proposals  for  PoCs.  MoUs  purely  on  pro  bono  basis  with  selected  companies  are being signed, for a period of one year to develop PoCs. The PoCs will help in understanding solutions that    can be built using available data and some of them, if found beneficial to the

-2- farmers will be scaled up at National level. There is no connection between the MoUs and the IDEA Consultation Paper for which comments were sought from various stakeholders in the country.

(b): The details of MoUs entered by this Department are given at Annexure.

(c) & (d): As of now, the federated farmers' database is being built by taking the publicly available  data  as  existing  in  the  Department  and  in  various  data  silos  in  Government  and linking them with the digitised land records. This Department in consultation with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in the process of bringing out a data policy for the agriculture sector. Government would ensure the data privacy of the Farmers' personal data only for sharing with any private organization.

(e): Yes, the Government aims to create a federated National Farmers Database and the digitized  land  records  will  be  used  as  data  attributes  for  creating  this  database.  To  bring dynamism to the farmer's database, the linkage with digital land record management system is  essential.  The  database  is  envisaged  to  facilitate  online  single  sign  on  facilities  for universal access and usher in proactive and personalised services to farmers such as direct benefit  transfer,  soil  and  plant  health  advisories,  weather  advisories,  irrigation  facilities, seamless credit & insurance facilities, seeds, fertilizers, pesticide related information nearby logistic facilities, market access information, peer to peer lending of farm equipment etc. The aim is to increase farmers' income by leveraging the available data and developing solutions based on the data so that the input costs are reduced, ease of farming is ensured, quality is improved and farmers get better price for their farm produce. If any States have already built such system, then, endeavour will be to make use of the same and build on top of that.

-3-

(f): At  present,  farmers'  database  will  include  the  farmers,  who  are  legal  owners  of  the agriculture land as per the government database and as endorsed by the State Government. In  future,  the  possibility  of  including  others  may  be  considered  in  consultation  with  State Governments & other Stakeholders.

(g) : Once developed, federated national farmer database will help to deliver personalized and proactive services to farmers. Government can make use of the database for targeted service delivery with higher efficiency and in a focussed & time bound manner.

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):

- I. Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd. - for consolidating agri ecosystem across the value chain (farm to fork) to empower the farmer using Data Analytics. In this regard, 100 villages have been selected and a pilot is being carried out by Microsoft and their local partner.
- II. 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. III. Amazon  Web  Services  India  -  for  digital  services  across  the  agri  value  chain  and creating an innovation ecosystem around digital agriculture. IV. Star  Agribazaar  Technology  Private  limited  -  for  collaborating  with  Department  of Agriculture for a pilot project in 3 Districts (Kota in Rajasthan, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Guna in Madhya Pradesh) to promote digital agriculture. Patanjali Organic Research Institute private Limited - for farm management and farmers service in 03 districts (Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh and Morena

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- V. in Madhya Pradesh).