Lok Sabha Question No. 79 (STARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Digital Technology in Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Sunil Kumar Pintu, Jugal Kishore Sharma

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

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 79

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 25 TH  JULY, 2023

## 'DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE'

* 79 . SHRI SUNIL KUMAR PINTU: SHRI JUGAL KISHORE SHARMA:

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

- (a) whether the Government agrees with the view that the digital technology can play a transformative role in modernising our agriculture;
- (b) if so, the details of initiatives taken/proposed by the Government to promote digital agriculture  in  Hooghly  of  West  Bengal,  Amravati  of  Maharashtra,  Sitamarhi  and Bhagalpur  of  Bihar,  Jammu  and  Kashmir,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Jharkhand  and  Sonipat district of Haryana; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR) (a) to (c):       A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

O.I.H.

## STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  79  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON  25.07.2023  REGARDING  'DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE'.

- (a): Yes, Sir. Digital technologies are finding increasing use in the agricultural value system, and farmers are increasingly becoming more informed.
- (b): Government has taken various measures to provide access to technology and information across the country, through various Digital Initiatives, such as:
- i. National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) wherein, funds are provided 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. After receiving proposals from the States, funds are released for development of various solutions.
- ii. The  Government  has  announced  for  development  of  Digital  Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture as an open source, open standard and inter-operable  public  good  to  enable  inclusive  farmer  centric  solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and  health, improved  access  to  farm  inputs,  credit  and  insurance,  help  for  crop estimation, market  intelligence  etc including  states  of  West  Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Haryana. In this regards, following action has been taken so far:
-  Architecture  of  three  core  registries  i.e.  Farmer  registry,  Geo referencing  of  village  map  registry,  crop  sown  registry  has  been finalized.
-  To  generate  crop  sown  registry,  Digital  crop  survey  has  been launched on pilot basis in 12 states from Kharif 2023.
-  An  MoU  has  been  signed  with  Pixxel  Space  India  Pvt.  Limitedto develop  use  cases  with  the  hyperspectral  data  of  Pixxel  for  crop identification and mapping, crop health monitoring and soil organic carbon estimation over selected regions on pilot basis.
- iii. 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 hitech  &  high  value  farm  equipments,  distribution  of  various  agricultural equipments, creating awareness among stakeholders through demonstration and capacity building activities, and ensuring performancetesting and certification at designated testing centers located all over the country.
- iv. 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.
- v. 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 self- registration 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.  Recently,  face authentication feature has also been included in PM-KISAN mobile App.
- vi. 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.
- vii. National  Mission  on  Horticulture:  It  Promotes  holistic  development  of Horticulture sector (including bamboo & coconut) HORTNET project is a web enabled work flow- based 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.
- viii. National Project on Soil Health and Fertility:-Issuance of 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.
- ix. Several  new  technological  initiatives  has  been  taken  under  the  Pradhan Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana  such  as  Yield  Estimation  System,  based  on Technology  (YES-Tech),  Weather  Information  Network  Data  Systems (WINDS) portal and door to door enrollment app AIDE/Sahayak.
- a.  YES-TECH,  a  technology-driven  yield  estimation  system,  offering methodologies, best practices, and integration insights for accurate yield assessments at the Gram Panchayat level.
- b.  WINDS Portal is  a  centralized  platform  that  hosts,  manages,  and processes hyper-local weather data collected by Automatic Weather Stations  and  Rain  Gauges  at  Taluk/Block  and  Gram  Panchayat levels. The portal enhances risk assessment and decision-making in crop  insurance,  agriculture  advisories, and  disaster  mitigation, supporting the agricultural sector and rural economy.
- c.  The  AIDE  app's  aims  to  revolutionize  the  enrolment  process, bringing  it  directly  to  the  doorstep  of  farmers.  This  door-to-door enrolment  ensures  a  seamless  and  transparent  process,  making crop insurance more accessible and convenient for farmers.
- x. 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,
- xi.
- 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. Further, ICAR has developed a Digital multimedia platform named as 'Kisan Sarathi' which is being used to provide advisories to the farmers through 731 KVKs across the Country.

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